Religion seeks to grow. Those that didn’t have long since perished, each silently disappearing and forgotten; a natural selection on a cultural scale. It is not so much the focused intention of a motivated individual as it is the sum of its followers, all shaping their lives around a belief system that is so acculturated into their being as to be inseparable, each trying to prevent those around them from falling into sin by steering them down a path to salvation.

By venturing out of the realm of souls and into real world  America, religion becomes subject to its rules. It is not free to go to the airport in a veil, to sacrifice heathens upon a mountain top, or to occupy land simply because it’s holy.

It’s a double edged sword. The theology in power gets their god entrusted on our money, their morality made law, and the security of not having another religion in their place, yet they must accept women into their leadership, silence their hate for rival gods, and provide marriage ceremonies for gay couples.

A religion that achieves theocracy has the benefit of being able to purge its rivals; precisely the reason we can’t allow it to happen. It is the removal of  diversity and competition, the smothering of inconvenient truth, the death of ideas.