Religion needs to be criticized.

“Religion remains a major obstacle to basic reforms that reduce unnecessary suffering. Think of issues like contraception, abortion, the status of women in society, the use of embryos for medical research, physician-assisted suicide, attitudes towards homosexuality, and the treatment of animals. In each case, somewhere in the world, religious beliefs have been a barrier to changes that would make the world more sustainable, freer, and more humane.”  (Peter Singer, ethicist, secular humanist, http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=psinger_26_4)