As far as I am concerned, the bible itself is a "state religion". Any belief system derived from it, whether it be personal or shared/widespread, is still an institution with the Bible/scriptures being at the root of it. If it were the case one is to strictly derive a "personal" relationship with God through "christ", then the need for any institution of any kind would not be present.
Instead, we have multi-billion dollar industries based in this one book.
Not to entirely discredit the bible; I actually think it is extremely well written if you read it as an internal narrative and recognize it for what it is: essentially an internal road map of the full human experience.
This is why I don't like discussing the bible; I read it differently than most; whereas they read it literally, I treat it as strictly a "narrative", because that's how the entire thing started, and as Shakespeare said: "All of the world is a stage" and I would add to that; according to Jesus, and just about every other yogi, you are the act relative to your own experience.
This whole discourse tells me that you have not actually given the bible a proper evaluation without bias and or a tainted, skewed view....This book is not the work of one man and or a Shakespearian play.....It was written over a period of 1600 years by some 40 odd authors. It contains the verbiage of Kings, priests, slaves, Roman soldiers, tax collectors, fishermen, thieves, Pharaohs, the rich, the poor, lepers, demon possessed, angels, Satan and every other gambit of human background. It accurately predicts the rise and fall of world kingdoms and even names the leaders of some 2 centuries or more in advance of their coming and exactly what they would do in their reign. It is full of overwhelming proof of divine influence and even speaks to modern flight, modern weapons, nuclear war, genetics, more than 4 dimensions, modern mathematics, medicine, astronomy, and has hundreds of prophetic utterences that have come to pass exactly as they were given without error.
Not only does it contain narrative, but it also contains allegory, metaphor, symbolic, prophecy, parables, poetry, acrostic psalms, prayers, and the words of a donkey while being written in three languages and containing language beyond human comprehension.
ABOVE all....It contains the divine words of the one true God concerning the human condition and the eternal destinies of men based upon said choices in this life.......
What I have said here does not even scratch the surface concerning the validity of the word and the value without price that can be placed upon the pages and pages of wisdom that can be gleaned from the truth found therein.....it is tragic that you devalue it to the mere works of men which states multitudes about your bias and lack of honest evaluation.