Excellent response. I was about to post something similar until I read yours.
If you look at the various definitions of religion, and its etymology, it takes on a very negative connotation which can be essentially boiled down to bondage. God’s Truth is supposed to make you free (John 8:32). Religion enslaves you in ceremonies, dogma, tradition, rituals, superstition, etc., all the things Paul argues against in Galatians and Colossians (rudiments & elements of the world). Or as we see in Hosea 6:6, quoted by Jesus to the religious of his time - For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Believers are not servants, or even friends of God. We are His Children, if led by His Spirit (Romans 8:14). That means relationship, not religion.
AMEN!