Politics as Substitute Religion

When technology and secularization erode traditional religious authority, political ideologies and institutions increasingly supply the narratives, rituals, and promises of salvation that religion once provided. This turns politics from a tool for coordinating public goods into a repository of meaning and existential answers, raising stakes for political conflict and institutional legitimacy. — If politics functions as religion, political disputes will carry moral‑salvific weight and be harder to resolve through routine democratic processes.