What is your definition of "religion"? Progressivism doesn't have any of: rituals, priests, official buildings, sacred texts, gods, other supernatural beliefs,

What is your definition of "religion"? Progressivism doesn't have any of: rituals, priests, official buildings, sacred texts, gods, other supernatural beliefs, holy places, concern with an afterlife, elevation of tradition over reason, use of altered states of consciousness, seemingly-arbitrary restrictions on speech or conduct. Of course many religions lack some of those things, but it seems to me that this it's things like these that distinguish religions from non-religions. You can, of course, squeeze some features of progressivism until they kinda-sorta match some of those. Caring about the welfare of people in the future is just like believing in an afterlife! The peer-reviewed scientific literature is just like a body of sacred scriptures! Leading progressive politicians are just like priests! The allegedly melting polar icecaps are just like hallowed sacred places! The trouble with this (aside from the obvious fact that it's bullshit) is that applying the same principle generally would lead to classifying too many things as religions. (US-style conservatism: folks like Beck and Limbaugh are just like priests! Teabag protests are just like religious gatherings! The US Constitution is just like a religious text! (And requires interpretation by the right people to be rightly understood, of course.) Science: controlled experiments are rituals! Universities are temples! String theory is dogma handed down from on high! Software development: RFCs and ISO standards are sacred texts! Famous hackers are priests or even demigods! That mental state in which code just pours out of you is a mystical experience! Unit testing is a ritual! GOTO is a taboo word!) Bullshit, the whole lot of it. Sure, lots of things resemble religions in various ways: any status hierarchy is a little like a religious hierarchy (that's even where the term "hierarchy" comes from), any body of ideas that's been developed over time is a little like a religion's official doctrines, any activity that's done in standard ways is a little like a ritual. That isn't because science and conservatism and stamp collecting and democracy and environmentalism are religions, it's because some ways of doing things come naturally to human beings and/or are obviously sensible, and we find them in religions and in non-religions alike.