What is actually disingenuous is to claim religion as distinct from politics. Politics is the way people living in groups make their rules and decisions. Organised religion is in many ways the same thing, which is why religion is inextricably tied up with secular politics until and unless serious efforts are made to separate the two.

During your arguments, you made constant references to the need for authority in religious practice. Presumably because unless religious ideas are uniform across a community, then behaviours will not be.

Unfortunately, that betrays your authoritarian leanings, since people who take this view in regard to religion will sooner or later extend it to politics "for the greater good".

Please think about that.