Comment 4 by JeremyW

Politicians in the US do actually conform to a lot of your criteria, the demands for unswerving allegiance, the symbolic acts, youth groups, indoctrination, etc...

Indeed, but my point was more than under the banner of religion a group tend to get away with activities, policies, and beliefs for which there'd be riots in the streets and mass counter-demonstrations if a political party practiced the same.

That is particularly how one ends up with, for example, some on the left openly condemning fascism, homophobia, abuse of women, and so on..........yet they're the first to chant 'Islamophobia' if one dares point out that Islam is just a tad on the fascist, homophobic, and abusive of women side of things.

Likewise, if a political party advocated that children should be subjected to lessons in sado-masochistic BDSM, there'd be mass protests......yet our own government in the UK is quite happy to let children be taught the single greatest sado-masochistic story in history under the guise of 'faith schools'.