Real equality is immensely difficult to achieve, it needs continual revision and monitoring of distributions. And it does not provide buffers between members, so they are continually colliding or frustrating each other. – Mary Douglas
It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made organized Christianity feel under threat. – Mary Douglas
It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organized religion, and to prefer looser and more private arrangements. – Mary Douglas
Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people were encouraged to believe in a transcendent reality, and to be encouraged by grand rituals and music and preaching, to love their neighbors, then they would put jealousy and frustration aside? – Mary Douglas