If I gave the feeling that I hate religion, then I have to clarify my stand. I, merely believe that religion shouldn't be given the kind of importance it is given in our society. Yes, there are many who are religious and that is not a problem. The problem begin when there is politicisation of religion and religion is brought into mainstream, just like in several states of our country.
You gives examples of certain states, but you forget that Greece, from which democracy originated went bust and if it was not for EU and other world institutions, there wouldn't have been a Greece today or that matter even Italy or Spain. USSR was a proud nation, but pride hath a fall and USSR went bust. That doesn't mean the people of former soviet republics feel that it was a good thing as there are many who want the good old days back. In USSR, there was almost 100% literacy, which even after 72 years of Independence we haven't managed to achieve( USSR was in the same state as us, because they were involved in the civil war as well as both the world wars).
You talk about orthodox church commanding respect in USSR, that is an utterly false notion as the ideology of communists was totally different, eg: The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated
atheism in the schools. Source:
https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/anti.html
Only after the break of USSR, that we see the popularity of orthodox church rising, when it counted 75% (according to them)of Russia population (around 40% currently) as members, although many of them don't live the lifestyle of an orthodox person. Btw, Islam is the second largest religion in Russia and Hinduism is one of the fastest growing religion in Russia.