> the world today is very different from then. . . many major religions have lost all moral credibility due to continued decades of horrible violence.

I wouldn't say that this is entirely the case. Most religions are in the same position they were in back in 2008. With the Church attempting to accommodate modernity and slowly declining; with a fractured Muslim world; with Buddhism and other religions largely invisible in the West. To speak plainly, the only real exception is Judaism, which has doubled-down on growing into a weird and violent master-race cult, and which has voluntarily surrendered any claim to moral credibility. (So much the worse for anybody unlucky enough to live in Israel's neighborhood!)

That last bit is false, you are conflating Zionism and Judaism. Plenty of non weird non colonizer non Zionist Jewish folks.

We didn't have nearly the prosperity gospel and doomsday cult of christians we have today in 2008 (or at least they were kept much more at bay instead of running the country)