You said -- "That wouldn't make it go away any more that destroying every Scientology church would make Tom Cruise go away."
Well, to use your "picture" -- I wouldn't be concerned about Tom Cruise. It would be the religion that is the problem. Tom Cruise will simply go on making movies.
Let's take the state-religion of Nazism in Germany. We destroyed that. We also destroyed a few key people in that 1,000 year Reich. And we made it illegal. It's gone now.
BUT -- there are still many people alive today who were part of that back then.
So, you see..., you don't have to destroy all the people. You just need to destroy the religion.
Regards,
Star Traveler
Taking down a government is completely different then taking down a religion with 1.6 billion followers spread through the entire planet.
I dont think that is a valid comparison.
The Tom Cruise thing was just sarcasm.