Phats: "Perhaps your point is this: Dogma merely means that the spiritual authority propagated by the Church is not an absolute for everyone."
While true, that is not my point.
One of my points was that dogma doesn't just pop out of thin air, but is constructed over a period of time by theocratic politicians for purposes like satisfying their greed, hunger for power, to satisfy their perverse pleasures including watching others squirm in fear or lock step in mass hysteria, and of course, to guarantee their own self-perpetuation at the top of the heap.
To accomplish their psychotic agenda, the theocratic politicians employ propaganda to market their dogma. The more well-constructed the dogma is the more likely that lost souls will buy it. Usually the program includes hypnotic elements to break down the audience's intellectual defenses ... smoke, aroma, color enhancement, parlor tricks, laser light shows, primal rhythmic beats, vocal chants, false promises delivered in calming tones, etc.
Of course, cultural pre-indoctrination of the audience by folk tales, hero myths, and a body of fixed social morals makes the job easier for the theocratic politicians so long as they infuse or imbellish their dogma and propaganda with the imbedded tales, myths, and mores.
Now do you see any similarities between selling religious dogma and selling gansta rap?
Peace in the Hood.