Religion is a socio-politico-military-economic ideology, not much unlike nationalism. It is born in the heads of leaders and implemented in society as a means of power and governance and to form associations and group bonding so as to better the chances of survival by living and fighting together. I think there should be enough scholarly studies affirming this. That it uses the fear of the unknown in humans to create an omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent being and comes to and maintains power in His name is simply a question of the closest superstition available to the leaders to grab at that time.
Religion, in no case though, is a private matter. It never was. It is just that the new dogma-on-the-block, nationalism is hell-bent on replacing it and, towards its goal of marginalising and reducing what it wishes to replace, has created this illusion that religion should remain inside our homes and not be displayed in public, leave alone in the political sphere. Nationalism has us all convinced that we can all be religious in private and secular in public. Religion, no religion, is designed that way, to the extent that such systems are designed (I believe they are a mix of evolutionary traits and historical incidents that the shrewd pounced on to manipulate and organise, and then keep building on, into a movement of sorts). This is just our nationalistic conditioning talking. Our political leaders try to tell us that we are all (regardless of which superstitious claptrap we believe in) one, and that we share a common history and a common geographical entity, sometimes a common language, and mostly, a common ideology, which the leaders who invented the concept of the nation-state claim to be so overarching as to supplant any religious belief or dogma, sine there is place for only one superstition in our heads and hearts. We fall for it, and go and kill and die for those artificial boundaries and ideologies, with one symbol replacing the other, forgetting that in the end, both demand blood sacrifice.
This is a fight between two equally superstitious faiths. And I believe that sooner or later, nationalism and the nation-state will win, relegating religion to history.
Never mind the spelling of Christianity. Focus on the message.
P.S: I wrote about this in February 2014. For those who are interested, here‘s the old (badly formatted) article.
