I ignore religions, said Brawne Lamia. I do not succumb to them. - Dan Simmons

With a sudden clarity which went beyond the immediacy of his pain or sorrow, Sol Weintraub suddenly understood perfectly why Abraham had agreed to sacrifice Isaac, his son, when the Lord commanded him to do so.
It was not obedience.
It was not even to put the love of God above the love of his son.
Abraham was testing God.
By denying the sacrifice at the last moment, by stopping the knife, God had earned the right—in Abraham’s eyes and the hearts of his offspring—to become the God of Abraham.

Dogma and hierarchy are endemic to such structures...indeed, such are the structures of any theocracy.

I am of no faith, said Aenea. If one defines faith as belief in the supernatural.