>>12407129This is all doctrinal details and higher theology, which are beside the point, as is even the definition of a particular "God" and what it is to "exist". The core of the matter is simply the creation of externalized organizing principles, then the application of faith and construction of rituals around them. If you have these things and choose to anchor your faith accordingly, you have a religion. If you "believe in" "science", most likely you're going to find yourself reading scientific articles and books. Thus, you're getting your view of reality from writings of peo-ple you've never met, reviewed by an opaque structure you cna't evaluate, about experiments you cannot run. That is the essence of faith. After you've accepted this faith, the rest of your reality follows a priori. You defer to scientists and governmental bodies like popes, cardinals, and priests, as they are the people who can interpret the stars and the know the language of the Gods (often mathematics), and this organizes your mind and behavior. To control your behavior, people need only invoke the right holy words, like "evidence", "statistically significant", and more perversely for the masses "consensus", "settled science", and "proven 100%".
It's all religion. Religion may even be unavoidable, but the damage of this human tendency is greatly attenuated by realizing and admitting.
