Not that I disagree with your wife, sounds like her position is not far from mine. However, religion is a useful discipline.
I should have made it clear that her tactic was only used when she was approached on the street by people propagating their religion.
Consider: would you think it wise to abolish all education and not ever send any children at all to school to learn? I think abolishing religion would be very much just like this.
Of course not. Our kids would be educated in all the religions that were and all that went with it during the transition(like Brexit 
)
The difference in practice is that while you eventually graduate from school, preferably with an advanced degree...most people never get around to graduating from religion, let alone even applying themselves to any advanced degree. They are just there for the socializing, or so it seems to me.
If you are saying that most people are nominal in their religion , I would agree. If these people are in the majority, then the transition will be quicker since only the really committed will resist the change.
Given the choice between the worst case scenarios, I think its probably better folks languish in the socialization rather than be completely ignorant of the Divine. But I would stress that length of time spent inside a sanctuary does not imply any sense of understanding, understanding would make itself clearly evident in action.
I am unsure what you mean by this last paragraph. Could you rephrase?
