The Secular Priesthood

[bluethread]

I know that secularists like to equate religion and theism. However, one deals with rituals and doctrines, while the other is primarily related to philosophy. Since secular society has rituals and doctrines, often referred to as protocols and policies, there must be a priesthood to establish and enforce them. This is the propose premise of this thread.

It appears to me that there are at least two religions that compete to establish themselves as The Secular Priesthood. I submit as a justification for this the current Ebola crisis. The scientific humanists insist that the rituals and doctrines (procedures and policies) be dictated primarily by science, with physicians as the holy priesthood. One the other hand, the populist humanists insist that the rituals and doctrines (procedures and policies)rituals and be dictated by the desires of the population, with politicians as the holy priesthood.

Therefore, I present two questions for consideration.

1. Is it proper and/or accurate to equate theistic religion with the practices of secular society? If not, how does this disagreement among secularists differ from the disagreements among theists.

2. Which of these two factions should be establishing public policy?