The handy thing about a cover story that makes no sense is that it separates the truly fanatic from the merely gullible and then those just looking for a group to join.

Here is a book I think gives an interesting insight into Western civilization;

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/30250/30250-h/30250-h.htm

My own observation is that a spiritual absolute would necessarily be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. More the light shining through the film, than the images on it.

I can understand the social usefulness of the father figure lawgiver, but you would think a couple thousand years of philosophy could have pointed out that ideals are aspirational, while absolutes are elemental.

It just empowers the narrow minded and confuses the open minded.

Also good and bad are not some cosmic conflict between righteousness and evil, but the basic biological binary of beneficial and detrimental. The 1/0 of sentience. Trying to figure out some ultimate good makes as much sense as asking what is the ultimate yes.

The effect is that disputes devolve into simplistic binaries and all the nuance, complexity and subjectivity is suspect.