Well, it must not be working too well these days since I (and others) choose to believe in religion without being forced to.
Then you're simply ignoring and cherry picking from whatever religious text you claim to adhere to, nothing more. And I'm sorry to say, but it is working, and only too effectively in many areas of the world, even in the United States. Not a day goes by when the religious attempt to encroach on free society with an attempt to force junk science to be taught in the classroom, or attempt to censure free speech or satire on religious icons. One only needs to look back a few months to see the global outburst of violence excused by 'offense' taken to a satirical movie along the lines of
The Life of Brian, except it wasn't concerning Christianity.
Not one single main-stream paper in the United States dared to show people what all the fuss was about when it came to a cartoon in 2006, purely out of fear of the religious.
When a religious leader, in his own name, offers money, for the suborning of murder, of a novelist, from a different country, who lived in England; who did all the religious leaders in the western world condemn? The novelist! The author, for blasphemy. So don't try to tell me, that simply because you choose to believe in an absolute totalitarian authority and try to wash over the bad bits, that others don't and try to force it on others, because the journalistic profession proves it quite conclusively.