no actually OP, its that we've only climbed off the ladder of religion when the state become technologically advanced and rich enough to take over the role of the All Seeing God in controlling peoples behaviour. more freedom for the individual ostensibly but a heck of alot more expensive on a country's balance sheet than a simple heaven if your good hell if your not good.
and who is jaded? the UK is the most spied on nation on earth, thats how our government works to ensure our cooperation its not a Big God but Big Brother thats constantly watching. the state does not leave it to chance and we have become so inured to that its just 'meh'. it papers over the fact we are a low trust society. 'watched people are good people'.communist states and totalitarian countries where theres three secret police for every citizen also follow that same rule.
As to the scandinavians, they climbed off the ladder of religion at a higher rung than us to where such things just became inculcated cardinal. and rampant capitalism isnt threatening to overwhelm them as it does over the US and UK populations. you think its just religion holding us back from the near utopi-ish scandinavian societies when actually, they have much more solidarity and that overcomes the selfish individualism that the Tory party/Republican party would have us living by.
"Organised religion is no longer about faith. It is about control. Early in their developments they tend to be about personal contemplation and prayer and community."
personal contemplation and prayer are personal, community is social. if a religion has binding rules on altruism and solidarity amongst its members, all for one one for all, co religionists are as brothers and sisters etc. then it also needs rules on behaviour in order that no one individual strains the 'brotherhood' too much. the social capital amongst members of the same faith, where they trust, cooperate etc with each other to high degrees is based on shared sacrifice. that can be adherence to often strict rules that may look nonsensical to outsiders but such elaborate religious rituals, eg no tv amongst the amish, are to weed out fraudsters and the insincere.
religions such as islam were sought out by the poor, the unconnected, the ones with low social capital, for its social welfare system and also for the increased altruism seen amongst its members for one another. but its high trust networks, lending/borrowing without interest, needed and still needs intrinsic and extrinsic bonds to tie that. collective liability needs its members to be stable, regular, sober, and industrious, that they do not strain the ties of solidarity - that are always meant to be there - overmuch.
he early trade unionists with their rules on teetotalism for their members and working class solidarity were also about that. otherwise you have a situation like with the overstrained welfare state or the NHS.