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Agreed. With the caveat that "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". We must act in accordance with the created order. I would argue that the process of hubris followed by decadence you allude to is rooted in people starting to forget they owe their existence to the creator, and thinking they can do away with such "superstitions" now that they are "enlightened". This is when the prophets arrive to try to warn us. And of course, they are ignored, until disaster strikes.
Yes there is definitely truth in that.
As a society we may reach a point of arrogance where only tragedy will awaken us.
The church here in NZ is incredibly weak and compromised- most are dying or mired in materialism.
I practice voluntary poverty from the relative wealth and comfort of New Zealand where the preoccupation of the media and society in general seems to be gaining as much material wealth as you can.
The economy/dollar has become the sole arbiter of value but that is not a sustainable society.
Bitcoin gives me some hope but it is far from a complete solution- it is just a model, an alternative model to centralised power structures and hierarchies.
Something more is required.
Renewed or revived values of community!
There are truths in religions that are demonstrable.
Religions create a framework of belief and values that enable a productive, prosperous and healthy society to develop- and they have PoW because if they do not foster such a community, they die.
Religions emphasize our responsibility and duty toward others.
The irony is that the greatest religions have all historically fostered strong productive and expansive cultures and communities but ultimately they all fall into decline and decadence- as their success in enabling the best potential of human nature to develop and they achieve material wealth and power they become selfish, arrogant and entitled and forget the humble truths that built them up.
Neoliberalism I see as a selfish amoral ideology- with no basis in faith, love, community, responsibility or the common good of society- in fact Thatcher said it - 'there is no such thing as society'.
So they paint a model of the world as one where the individual is in a constant contest with everyone else and everything is commodified - there is no common good, no community, no society, no shared purpose and values, just an amoral market place where the rich get richer and inequality, loneliness, isolation, division and alienation grow.
We as humans can achieve great things when we work together collaboratively, with a common purpose and set of values- but when we do not have the humility to respect others and work together we are in decline.
The Maori here in NZ have a saying about what is most important- 'It is the people, it is the people, it is the people'.
Religions resonate with this - the way we treat each other defines us and ultimately determines our collective fate.