I know nothing about philosophy, but the Absence of Myth is often a heavily discussed topic since last century, and iIrc there’s a school of thought that I adhere that says “if you take the gods from the hearts of men, they will make new ones*”.

The idea is that our brains are constantly trying to make sense of an otherwise chaotic world, and in doing so, we create (or adhere) to myth to help us keep being rational (and focus on the stuff that matters(?)).

So even those of us that don’t subscribe to organized religions still have some mythos going on. But I’m not educated enough to explain or understand well this point.

*e.g. technological progress, artificial intelligence (well mostly LLM bs.), nuclear era will save us all, internet era will save us all, new-age stuff, cosmology, predestination, if we upload our conscience to a computer = heaven, etc. etc.

A link: https://gettherapybirmingham.com/on-the-absence-of-idols-on-mythopoetic-meaning-making/

EDIT: I forgot! One of the most common religious activities that we often don’t recognize is playing the lottery. It seems odd, but it is a communal activity solely based in faith that a better life is possible, and it is around the corner. But this is a faith-based activity, as anyone with some cursory statistics knowledge will tell you the odds are nought to nada.

I have often been split apart between telling someone or keeping the “lie”, as it seems it helps them keeping hope there is a better tomorrow.

If someone mentions their neighbor won the lottery, I would remind them the difference between empirical and anecdotal evidence.