The Religious Void

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

A brief thought for discussion:

It's not difficult to find religious behavior in nonreligious places. The US elections is a recent example of how easily cult-like and religious undertones begin to emerge in politics and otherwise secular groups. We are fundamentally religious creatures, and seem to default towards this mode of thinking when gathered too strongly into groups.

My question is this:

Is it better to have a well defined religious structure in which religious activities can exist rather than no structure at all; and does that successfully deminish religious behavior elsewhere?

In my own experience, being raised Christian does seem to stop me from having religious affiliation with other groups like politics. And I generally find it odd when I meet a Christian that is religiously political.

Clearly, having a well-defined religious structure doesn’t diminish religious activities outside of that structure. There are exceptions, of course, notably some Amish sects to whom political activities are expressly forbidden. But most structured religions - the Catholic and Anglican churches, Islam, Presbyterians and Baptists, to name a few - obviously have no compunctions about engaging in politics.

Boru