The entire instance seems to be engaged in an opinion shaping campaign

That’s too subtle a statement. It is a willful, bad-faith, full-on attack on objective reality via the rewriting of historical facts, redaction of massive volumes of information and constant aggressive, knee-jerk silencing of voices.

As such, it can also be described as a malicious assault on the mental health of individuals and society as a whole. Their actions a clear example of the type of repressive, miserable society they would have us live in, if given the chance by hook or by crook.

Does religion play into this?

In “middle America”, it’s the church that has usually lured well-meaning women into believing they are under siege, in peril like never before in the history of mankind. Same thing happened to my mother starting in the 70s with snake oil salesmen like Jerry Falwell, Jim Swagart, Jim Bakker and Pat Robertson.

The non-stop message is that they are always under attack, it’s always the end of days, the antichrist is always already among us, The Rapture™️ is just around the corner, and they are the chosen ones… living in constant fear of the fairytale boogeyman and calling it a privilege, their minds have been shackled and atrophied by a state of perpetual red alert that Satan is everywhere, that their loved ones will spend an eternity in hell.

EDIT: tweaked a sentence for clarity

And how do they exploit them?
By keeping them at a hysterical fever pitch, 24/7.
Amplifying ignorance, weaponizing mental illness.
That is the right wing and republicans, with every profane breath.