If one accepts Darwinian theory, then what religion seeks to do is replace the alpha male primate, with an “all time” alpha, hence limiting friction due to the risk of displeasing our Superior.

(“all-time” runner in a game of running bases provided the same effect, lack of argument over who got to play which role)

In a society that drifts more and more toward the right of the individual rather than the responsibility to the communal good, “religion” takes on a squelched appearance. For the very institution is formation of communal behavior toward internal and external members of one’s community and one’s neighboring communities.

If the individual is his own alpha, he needs no other…responds to no other, accepts no other. Behavior toward others is confined only by a sort of “gentleman’s anomie”…which, given the slightest provocation…or virtually any provocative slight…will render the unspoken agreement null and void.

For the anarchist, religion is the art of speaking of the common good…in an echo chamber in Babel. The cacophony that results is due to the “individual as his own god” mentality. Socialists and communists don’t understand that the path to heightened “individual” is the totalitarian control over their behavior…”for their own good”.

The nanny state is nothing more than the organized religion of populism.

While jihadists create enemies of the “infidel”, populistas create enemies of other faith-based folks. One blows up a disco, the other blows up the information stream. The virulent attack by the populistas against faith-based Christians (and sub rosa…all Jews), is an attack on the Bible as an instrument of faith that interferes with the “one true religion”…populist totalitarianism.

Populistas invent a creed that invokes the individual as his own god, then controls him by invention of behavioral conventions that, if not followed, are met with harsh rebuke, shunning, and peer pressure outcasting.

It’s probably the neatest trick in post-modern history. To at once be subservient and master is high art of suspended disbelief. The state is the alpha, but all the hymns are to the individual.

For most other organized religions, there is an invisible Supreme Being alpha, rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior…but allowing for free choice.

This latter concept is most important. The gift of free choice allows for the absorption of good behavior to enter the subconscious.

Totalitarian populism and jihadists beat obedience into submission. The difference between a religion and a cult…is the ability to find one’s way…to choose a path. Guidance vs. groveling.

This also accounts for why jihadists and populistas have so much in common. Language choice, the need for duplicity, the constant state of warfare. Populistas cannot exist, but for, the eternal need to create class, racial, creed, etc. …enemies. It is the very need for “battle” that breathes life into the cult-like adherence to notions so preposterous…they are jarring to non-cult members.

Similarly, jihadists must always make battle with an “enemy”. Civilians, women, children, babies…no matter. Without the battle both groups lose oxygen and die. Battle therefore, is the profit for the prophet of each.

Until we decide that the balance between individual exaltation and communal responsibility need to be re calibrated, we indeed will be slouching toward Bethlehem.