It's an interesting thing to think about. What if religion suddenly vanished, churches disappeared, and all the hierarchy of religious leaders were just normal people? How long would it take for communities and people who rely on the churches to adapt and find other means of coping or building friendships or getting advice? How long until people adapted to not having that structure in their life? And what would happen in the meantime? More violence or less?

People would find other things to belong to: Political parties, rotary club, sport teams etc. People crave the "herd". That's why someone that has never picked up a football in their lives or attended a university can be a die hard ___fill in the blank___ university football fan. That same person will kick the shit out of the opposing teams fans if they so much as look in the wrong direction. Why? Because they are the other. People crave the herd and they crave the other. -A clearly defined enemy makes people sleep well at night.

So if churches disappeared, you would see a huge influx in the amount of declared Democrats/Republicans. You would see sporting paraphernalia sell like hot cakes and nationalism would be at an all time high. We are tribal at our core. Religion feeds on this need as does nationalism.

Everyone likes to be able to say, "I am a ____."

That's why this is one of my favorite song lyrics: "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me". -John Lennon