Maybe humans actually do have a God Gene. Maybe there is an inner need to commune with others who share your beliefs in a higher purpose, while indulging in ritualistic behaviors and chanting mantras.

The corollary seems to be the belief that non-believers are sinful lesser beings who deserve scorn and ostracism, which always seems to accompany religion. The problem is when Church and State are one, and the organized power of the State can be brought to bear onto the heretics.

The USA has never had a state religion (unlike some of the colonies before there was a USA). We have the First Amendment, which separated church and state. That meant that a thousand flowers bloomed, from snake handlers to foot washers to organized religions inherited from the Middle East and elsewhere.

But 5 years ago our owners introduced the Devil personified, a figure around which a new religion was formed. At the time I compared the 24/7 Minutes of Hate presented on all media channels to Emmanual Goldstein, but now that the state has officially adopted the tenets of the new religion, I see that Trump represented the Devil to those people in this country who don't hold any traditional religious beliefs, so were in need of some deeper meaning in life to cling to.

And this explains why the True Believers of the new faith, which they call ''Science'', furiously denounce skeptics as ''right wing Christian Trumpers". It is true that Americans who hold traditional religious beliefs are somewhat less likely to have converted to the new religion.

They already have a biologically impossible belief, the idea the a dead person can rise again, they don't need to believe that humans can change sex. They believe that God loves all humans equally, so they are unlikely to adopt the belief that some races are born with unredeemable Original Sin, and that humans should be judged by the color of their skin. They already have priests and ministers issuing decrees, so are more likely to be resistant to the decrees of Pope Tony the Infallible.

I think that the dangerous ones are the True Believers, who now cheer on the State/Corporate alliance which is enforcing indoctrination on children and genuflection from adults. Traditional End Timers who crave the Second Coming, when Jesus metes out horrendous punishment to non-believers, got nothing on the liberals of today, who unashamedly spew their lurid fantasies of disease and death to those who refuse to submit to their dogmas.

This marriage of Church and State, which is actually a grab for power (just like previous grabs), is dangerous to those who prefer Enlightenment doctrines of free humanity, complete with civil liberties including free speech, bodily sovereignty, and free will.

The smug self-righteousness of those who ally themselves with power, as they cheer on the corporate/government (or private/public partnership or stakeholder capitalism, whatever you prefer to call it) cartel's overreach into matters of human conscience and autonomy, is reminiscent of past humans gathering to watch a public hanging or stoning of heretics.

And now the Biden government has announced that they will proselytize door-to-door, in the service of Big Pharma. The profits to be made from forcing every human on Earth to submit to forced inoculation are so great that the corporate/government prophets are salivating.

There are more profits to be made with this than the forced insurance company tithing that Obama pushed through. More money at stake than the billions made from convincing children that they were born in the "wrong body''.

This worldwide grab for ultimate power is audaciously bold. That is why it has taken years to roll out. This is bigger than the Catholic church taking over Europe and then riding with the Conquistadors to the Americas. This is Global Cap seizing wealth and power.

We are entering a new Dark Age. It doesn't look good for Free Thinkers.