It is secular influences outside and inside religious groups that are a major safe-guard in preventing abuses. Also, having many belief systems in a society can help prevent one religious belief system from becoming dominant. I have deep reservations about the ethical goodness of the Bible and other 'Holy Books'. Holy Books' are potentially a danger and a threat because they are considered Holy. It makes an irrational person out of a rational one.
Faith subordinates reason.
Often religion is used for controlling people, rather than used as a way of finding Truth. Finding Truth is the domain of Science. There is no modern science in the so called God's Book, the Bible. Nor is there any in the other 'Holy Books'. This includes the Koran, the Books of Mormon.