Religious extremism is about victory and obedience to “whomever”—Yahweh, Allah, Jesus, Buddha. That is correct, and it is happening now in all those places. Putin nationalized and rebuilt the Orthodox church to weaponize faith against first the Muslims in the Caucuses, then the “nazis” in Ukraine. The Buddhist weaponized their religion in Myanmar to kill and drive out the Muslims. The Muslims in Iran used it to drive out the Shah. The Christian American Nationalists are using it to drive out “DEI-scum” in this election season because barbarian invaders in the American heartland are eating the pets of the people who live there. Religion is exhausting, as it creates blindness that the “other side” of religious practitioners are all extremists while those on “your” side are all good churchgoers (who ever the “you” in your is). It’s exhausting. That’s why I’ll vote for an atheist. It’s harder—but not impossible of course— to start a war in the name of nothing and nobody.