Real Actual Politics

Cathars Expelled from Carcassonne (1209)

The Albigensian Crusade neatly illustrates how politics, culture, and religion actually work. It was a long campaign to eradicate Gnostic Christianity from southern France in the 13th century. Gnostic Christianity's teachings are almost completely distinct from the teachings of institutional Catholicism. The church ordered it suppressed with force, and the French used the crusade as a pretext to subdue the County of Toulouse.

Religion and religious institutions are really the bedrock of civilizations and nations. Ideas of the good and the rituals that allow people to attempt to influence the universe supersede or are completely intertwined with politics, and supersede commerce and trade. In the post Roman world of Western Europe, the ancient religions of Germanic peoples and the various competitors to Catholic Christianity that were imported to Europe were a threat to the dominion of kings over nations, so they were stamped out with violence or co-opted and blended into the fabric of the catholic religion.

If you're a society hacker, or a person who wants to see large scale change in the world and not just be part of a debating society, it's important to see how ideas translate into change. Religious organizations, mafias, secret societies, or even just fraternal organizations are the building blocks. They are really tribes in a form that's abstracted from blood ties, and in many cases, their belief is really shamanic in character, that is, various members of the societies seek direct contact with the other side. Political organization and action flows from this well spring.

For a would-be society hacker, it's important to understand that any successful religion, that is, anything that might transcend the status of a minor cult must honor all of the gods, rather than obsess on one or two. For example, if you're an anarcho-capitalist, you love Hermes above all other gods to the point of forgetting about them, or if you're a permaculturist, you love the Earth Mother above all other gods--which is probably a totally reasonable choice.