[AntiGuv]

Hmm.. I use "function" with two different meanings in my previous post, so lemme clarify!

Where I say:

"the overall function of religion is uniform."

I mean its general function of social regulation, social pacification, and social organization.

Where I say:

"[Christianity's] respective functions [in the respective eras] bear little resemblance to one another"

I'm referring to the specific pattern by which it achieves the general function and the dimensions within which it's called upon to do so.

[Torie]

Religion changes its hymns to suit the tastes of time. It's mission is to reach souls in the state it finds them in. I generally think it healthy for religion and secularism to be in a state of creative tension, in a civil society. The relatively absolute trimuph of one or the other, leads to subpar outcomes.