If you read the actual history, not just the narrative, they are the same.

Democracy and republicanism originated in pantheistic cultures.

Ancient Israel was a monarchy.

Rome adopted a monotheistic sect as state religion around the time the Empire was rising from the ashes of the Republic.

When the West went back to democracy and republicanism, it required separation of church and state, effectively culture and civics.

The problem is the node is synchronization, while the network is harmonization. Without the context, the tendency is to spiral into the rabbit hole in the center.

As we are this sentient interface between body and context, it is most vital fluctuating in the middle, not shrieking off toward the extremes.