Why is it damaging for people to express their own beliefs, unless one is suggesting that free will is damaging.
I don't think a theist would find it hard to complete in today's world, even in the sciences, unless they were to completely ignore what they find. Does the apparatus that moves the universe say anything about how it was created or does it simply give one a window into it's workings?
Those people who want nothing to do with knowledge or understanding, no matter which side they are on are the most destructive, because they gain their power through demonizing and belittling others.
I am a Christian and I'm not well educated. I ran away from home, school and church all at the same time. I thought I knew everything when I was 16 and found out later just how little I knew. I found out that the more I learned the more I understood just how little I did know.
I returned to God and to books at the same time and have learned much since then. What I've never learned is why so many people are so convinced of their own truths that they would sneer at others just for thinking beyond them.