I Hate Religion

To be fair though, I really hate any ideology that discriminates people for simply being themselves if it really doesn't affect other people's lives negatively.
This is exactly what religion (at least Christianity and Islam, not sure about other religions tbh) does, though.
I've often been told it was hypocritical of me to criticize religion for encouraging hatred and persecution of gays or LGBT in general and I can see why people might think so, but - just in case you think exactly that - it really isn't hypocrisy.
Here's the simple reason why: You can't choose who you're attracted to, who you love and how you feel, but you can surely choose what religion to follow.
Belief itself may not even be a choice, it really is a personal feeling you can't control, I get that. But I never understood why people follow a certain religion, only pick out the parts they like (cherry picking), and act like as if the parts they disagree with weren't part of it.
That's like as if someone joined the Mafia because that person likes how they treat every member like family, however that person doesn't like that they also commit crimes. 🙄

Why can't people just believe in (a) higher power(s) on their own and be happy with it without following some ideology that besides a few good things also teaches or portrays horrible things like slavery, incest, misogyny and homophobia? 😥😒