>I do wonder what people will use as anchor institutions now that church going has declined - not everyone can do the corporate only thing Entertainment. Relig

>I do wonder what people will use as anchor institutions now that church going has declined - not everyone can do the corporate only thing Entertainment. Religious behavior is so ingrained and universal that, when people lose it, they immediately start organizing around the nearest banner and making mock wars against the unbelievers. Nintendo believers (with their computerized altars, mythos, and rituals) may not actually kill the bros of the X-box, but they do get worked up about the differences and frequently engage in mock battles with those of other tribes. It's too reductive to call all of this behavior either religious or spiritual, but if you look at it from the perspective of an anthropologist from the future or another planet, it makes a lot more sense than to say 'the enlightenment happened and each and every person separated the spiritual and the secular in their brains and we all lived rationally ever after.' So, generally, if you're in the business of making consumer products, you're in the business of running an effective cult, or at least encouraging an existing strong cult to adopt one of your mythic ways into their own, or making use of one of your totems.