Well I'm not religious I believe we don't have sufficient evidence to confirm or deny the existence of god. To stick to one side and claim it with absolute certainty is plain ignorance, an atheist has just as much evidence against religion as Charlie has for it (except maybe he can quote a book of questionable reputation at you).

Ur almost certainly right if you've read Machiavelli's "The Prince” it comments on exactly this that to be leader you must appear to your follows to be religious. I would consider a religion in this specific context to be an agreed upon set of beliefs of your followers ie communism, wokism, Nazism, etc all qualify along with traditional religions.

Yep pretty much.

PS. Thanks for the civil good faith discussion I think it was insightful for both of us. I believe this is exactly what Charlie Kirk wanted to see in this world. I think he would have been honoured to see such civility and open communication between disagreeing parties in a time of such divide. See you round the fediverse my friend.