A person's religion can offer tremendous comfort to them in times of stress. It can and is a huge hinderance at the same time. Look, a person's belief system is something that they carry with them 24-7. They view the world through it and there is nothing that can be done externally to sway them from it.

You can expose them to alternatives, tell them the "truth".... all sorts of external stimuli can be offered to a person. They can and will summarily dismiss them UNLESS they are ready internally to change.

So, a belief system is a tool kit that a person carries and uses to surmount or at least confront the issues that present themselves on a given day or at a given moment. This tool kit may not be ideal but by the time a person gets to a certain age, they have used the tools so many times that it is all they know.