It’s actually waves of religious extremism. Ebbs and flows. It can be, and has been, fought before. The problem is that it never fully dies out.

I’d like to think that reason can eventually win. If only because the religious extremists keep taking it to, well, extremes. This drives people away from the belief, because why the fuck would you ever believe in the shit the extremists preach?

They tell you that you’re worthless, that you should bow and scrape while they ignore every single tenet of their own religion. Holiness becomes removed from actions and becomes and excuse for terrible behavior.

But then the extremist are forced to back off, or their little sect of greed worship dies out when the grifter claiming to be a preacher dies or gets sent to prison, and the cycle is primed to begin again when a new sect of Christianity pops up to start recruiting in an area, often by first attacking non-Christian education options.