There's this Seneca quote that I recently heard, "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." I think that I understood that on a gut level when leaving the faith but it all got very confused with people urging me to come out to my parents about my unbelief etc. When you start getting out of religion, you will get the hapless Christians not understanding genuinely (some might think you are an apostate sure, but if people like you they will do backflips to tell themselves you are a good person and still saved) and then you will get the rulers and other people who find religion useful (but who may not even believe themselves) hating you and seeing you as a threat because you've shown that you can't be controlled.