Someone was once quoted as having said that mankind will not truly be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest; while I don't generally condone violence, I am of the opinion that they might indeed have been on to something.
There's a difference between religion and church as an organisation with structure. As much as I grew up with catholic church all around and hope it goes down at some point, I don't mind people having the related religion. You don't need any priest to tell you what beliefs are correct or not.
Kings and priests are machinations of man, they exist not as external adversaries, blights unto who would otherwise be naturally enlightened, but a salve to our deep, innate need for surety, protection, charms against the fear of the unknown.
If it's true that mankind won't be truly free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest, mankind won't truly ever be so, because it'll invariably be the last one to die who is the king, and the one before, the priest. We might as well make peace with it.
