If you think critically about the role of religion, especially in the context of organizing a society around shared ideals, it isn't hard to see how this conclu

If you think critically about the role of religion, especially in the context of organizing a society around shared ideals, it isn't hard to see how this conclusion was reached. Include the cult of the expert, scientism, technocracy or politics as an all encompassing belief system. I'd wager that you'll find that many of these non-religious regions are highly devout. Consider the tolerance or lack thereof in some of these examples. https://observers.france24.com/en/20190626-china-tibet-portraits-xi-jinping-dalai-lama https://observers.france24.com/en/20190626-china-tibet-portr... https://bitterwinter.org/xi-jinping-portraits-replace-catholic-symbols/ https://bitterwinter.org/xi-jinping-portraits-replace-cathol... https://mosemaryandme.com/products/anthony-fauci-devotional-prayer-saint-candle https://mosemaryandme.com/products/anthony-fauci-devotional-... https://hyperallergic.com/554171/anthony-fauci/ https://hyperallergic.com/554171/anthony-fauci/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche#Religious_features_of_Juche https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche#Religious_features_of_Ju... https://www.npr.org/2021/01/28/961507953/without-their-messiah-qanon-believers-confront-a-post-trump-world https://www.npr.org/2021/01/28/961507953/without-their-messi... >This fact seems to place the person committed to scientism in a cognitive predicament much like that of the religious believer, i.e., deeply committed to the eventual revelation of a mystery, a truth that from our current circumstances is in principle unknowable. For scientism, this truth is the belief that we will one day be able to offer an exhaustive inventory of reality in purely natural terms. http://repository.essex.ac.uk/17390/1/%5E%20Final_Religion%20and%20Scientism%202.0.pdf http://repository.essex.ac.uk/17390/1/%5E%20Final_Religion%2...