Might be a spoiler but the orphic hammer deals massive damage to the pillars, it's kinda a big part of the boss fight that isn't hinted at, also if you rescue hope she has a divine intervention skill ready to go.
This fight got a lot of patches over the years, i remember being able to use Tasha's hideous laughter on Raphael the first times around but on my last playthrough I couldn't get it to work even by scum saving
Don't do good things to be good, do them because of how good they make you feel
Pay attention, it's the little things that make the whole picture when put together
If you're unsure about doing a certain activity do it anyways. It's better to err than to do nothing and forever wonder what it would had been like if you had
Most people aren't evil, they just have been formed differently by life itself. Try to understand them before you decide how you feel about them