So tightly linked are religion and guilt in the minds of some folks that they tend to measure the efficaciousness of a religion on a scale of how much guilt it induces. Like old time patent medicine, a religion can't possibly be good for you unless it is highly unpleasant going down. The more punitive a religion, the more good it must do your soul. I beg to disagree. Guilt is not an inherent product of religion.
Guilt is an inherent product of an immature religiosity.
Those guilty feelings, as uncomfortable as they may be, are a cheap and easy substitute for a deeper, more mature sense of atonement. For some, it is easier than atonement. Religious guilt is usually an end in itself. I convict myself of a wrong doing and I punish myself with a little guilt. And that's the end of it.