Scott's theory of where religion comes from (spun off from his rallying-flags post). The core: ancient religion wasn't like modern religion — it was CULTURE in a world where culture meant something (Roman religion = mythology + patriotism + holidays + customs + government rules + virtue beliefs). American 'civil religion' has all these features, illustrated with the delightful extended riffs on 'American kashrut' (no insects/dogs, cheeseburgers-not-for-breakfast) and American purity laws (shave/bathe/tie) — a time-traveling Solomon would recognize American civil religion as a religion faster than Christianity. Modern religions arose via OSSIFICATION + separation from context: the Jewish law preserved what any 1000 BC Israelite considered obvious; writing it down as a doubtable-but-shouldn't book made it a 'modern religion' separable from culture requiring justification (via God). Religion = a rallying flag preserving a culture + walls against the outside, preserved in amber via ossified text.

Quality 73 · Strong. High-Strong: an imaginative, memorable theory-essay with a genuine original thesis (ancient-religion-as-culture; the ossification-of-culture-into-religion mechanism; American-civil-religion-as-religion) and delightful illustrative riffs, but speculative ('my crazy theory') and a companion to his rallying-flags cluster. 73.

Claude’s paradigm shift 56 · Moderate. An original theory of religion's origins via ossification + the ancient-religion-as-culture reframe. B56.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. Part of his influential rallying-flags / culture-formation discourse; no material reach. RWI2.

A Theory About Religion