Even if elimination of religion is your goal and you care for nothing else, violent suppression simply doesn't work!
It just creates martyrs.
Want to know what's most likely to wipe out religion as a meaningful social force?
Worthwhile secular education for all, especially for women. Decent living standards for every human being on this planet. More social and political freedoms across the board. The empowerment of more women, giving them the choice, ability and confidence to leave abusive situations and run their own lives as they see fit. More generally, a better social safety net for people outside of churches and charitable institutions, i.e. a welfare state.
Of course the fundies will fight that sort of thing all the way, and in the US there are many anti-socialist memeplexes going strong, but that just makes the task harder, not impossible.
I truly, genuinely want religion to be completely and utterly neutered as a social force. It is a goal in which I am ruthlessly pragmatic. That is why I have no patience for methods of eliminating religion that seem to have more to do with idle dictatorial fantasies than actually getting rid of religion.
In the case of Maoism, I suspect that, functionally speaking, the suppression of religion was more about eliminating rivals to Mao's cult of personality rather than constituting any meaningful attempt to curb religious impulses.
