I thought about religion today(after thinking about Jordan Peterson's speeches) and came to the conclusion that everyone who thinks there's a real god and angels etc don't get what religion is about. It's really just about teaching the reader morals and various life lessons disguised as hundreds of stories that people have come up with for thousands of years.
I also think religion is not necessary anymore, there's something much better: science, psychology and philosophy.
I don't think I'm very far off where you're at. To me the fundamentals are rooted in trying to understand how everything (in the most general sense) works...including the self, the environment, other people, time, etc. I do think I'm with you in that it seems many people get too caught up in the provided symbolism versus the underlying message in those hundreds of stories. To a degree, it reminds me of the version of the Art of War (Shangri-la I think) where the original (translated) quote is given, then interpreted by four different people; a military general, a bureaucrat, a more 'joe-schmoe' citizen and a monk. Each quote (akin to stories) is applied differently depending on ones situation in life.
This is definitely my approach! While I don't necessarily like to knock those who do believe more of a larger than life human looking being, I definitely have a hard time putting myself in their shoes.
As yet, the trio of science, psychology, and philosophy do not have a "solution" for death. Of the three, "science" may be the closest to what the average person might consider acceptable solutions to death.
There has been and is much ongoing research into life extension technologies. Discoveries of the existence and function of telomeres, for example.
There has even been serious discussion (by Eric Drexler and the Foresight Institute) of using advanced nanotechnological robots to effect a re-animation of a corpse.
My personal hope and expectation for a sustained future lies in the person who I believe created me. I find it reasonable to believe that, if Jesus created all things, including me, it will be no big deal for him to restore my life.
I have no particular objection to the "scientific approach," apart from the fact that ongoing success does not seem to be on the horizon.