All governments are religions and all religions are governments. Perpetuated by increasingly consuming it's host, your agency. Civilization emerges from high agency individuals interacting..... government/religion inevitably destroys civilization.
They spread virally and fill parasitic hopefully passing niche that will fade and to history.
You do not need coercion, threat of violence or even a moral instruction manual to do good, you know what is right from childhood. The optimal state individual human prosperity is cooperation.
"But this is the price we pay"... Civilization emerges from the use of money despite the parasitic nature of governance structures.
We can not respect our ancestors by their mistakes but building on their success.