Two office workers, female and male, stand at a table in a coffee place in an office building lobby watching people. A very quiet looking man enters the foyer.

She: “Do you think that’s him?”

He: “Probably. I have never seen him before.”

“A crazy concept these religion consultants.”

“Yes, but this is a big project we are starting and that’s what’s needed to guarantee success.”

“Guarantee?”

“Your right, but you know what I mean. When a project reaches a certain level of complexity and length, we need to build a religion around it to ensure that objectives are maintained throughout the entire length of the project.”

“Will he even make up a God?”

“Come on… You know religion isn’t about any God. Religions are a formula of rites, rituals, mores and norms designed to build and maintain a community for a certain purpose.”

“Yes, I know mansplainer! I was just joking.”

“Mansplainer?! Making a joke is taking a risk… If the joke fails don’t blame me for it.”

“You’re right. Sorry…. From what I understand he will build a myth to support the routines of the religion.”

“Yes, that’s what I understand too,.. but I don’t think our project is all that big.”

“Believe it or not, there are some projects that are so big, not only do they involve a complex myth, but they have a group of people whose sole purpose is to maintain the religion.”

“Like priests.”

“Yup. In the created religion are people who have their own rites and rituals that are designed for them to maintain the rites and rituals that everyone else follows to keep them focused on the project… even rituals for adding new members and interacting with other companies and religions.”

“I wonder if they ever started a war or something.”

“I guess that’s why they make the big bucks. Building the religion so it doesn’t overlap with other religions, even larger religions, either now or in the future, gets pretty complicated.”

Surprising them, the quiet looking man is besides them, waiting in line for his coffee. He begins to talk and it takes a moment for them to realize that he is talking to them.

“Forgive me for overhearing, but you are quite rite. The old religions were born and evolved in a time when the purposes of life were straight forward and simple. Survival was the only project that people were concerned with. The religions simply evolved with the increase in population… where survival, more and more, was about getting along with an ever increasing number of people. 

“Then, with the advent of science and technology, the projects people wanted to pursue began to diversify. Most were simple, small projects that never took more than a few years. Even so, the old religions started to bust apart trying to cope with the changing systems. People created new Gods, or rejected Gods altogether, thinking that was the problem. But, the idea of God was never the problem, and simply eliminating or replacing the old God with anything else, like Logic or Money, didn’t change anything. 

“What had to happen was that religion needed to be viewed in a fractal sense. With different types and sizes of religion to match the project at hand. Today, we have many different projects going, of all different sizes. All with their own specific religion to keep them focused. Projects  that take years, decades, centuries,.. and even permanent projects.. which is what society is… a permanent project.”

The barista calls his name and he pays and collects his coffee. On his way out the woman quickly thanks him for the information. He smiles politely, responds accordingly, and continues on his way.