"Imagine no religion..."

Yes, I have difficulty seeing that too. No more religion doesn't mean no more value system. And some sort of value system would still undergird ethical, political and economic decisions like whether to go to war in Iraq and what kind of welfare system (if any) to support.

No, I don't think so. But I can't see a lack of religion bringing about agreement between say libertarians and socialists on the role of government. There would still be sharp disagreement in the US over whether or not to institute universal medicare, for example. Or whether to use the tax system as an instrument of wealth redistribution.

What you don't have is agreement that you should fund social programs. It is neither lack of money nor religious opposition that is preventing spending on social programs now. And, while a religious card may be played to help justify a war over oil, we all know the real reason is oil and if religion is not around to justify it, then some non-religious reason will be found.The alternative would be for the politicians to be honest about their realpolitik. Not an attractive option for most politicians. Actually, that is incorrect. It was founded on the separation of religious institutions from state institutions, a very different matter from separating religion and politics. In fact, it was quite some time before even the institutional separation was applied at the state as well as the federal level.

Yes, I think Weber is quite right on that point. Calvin was the first Christian theologian to justify charging interest on a loan, and without that, capitalism could not really have got off the ground.Of course, proving--to yourself or anyone else--that you are one of the elect, is contrary to the whole notion of predestination, but a natural human instinct, nonetheless.I guess what it comes down to for me is whether one ties "religion" to a God-concept. In terms of social and economic organization, of decisions over war and peace, capitalism or socialism or the mixed version of the welfare state, I don't think it makes any difference whether there is or is not an overt appeal to God. The powers-that-be have no more difficulty justifying themselves in terms of atheistic Marxism than in terms of Calvinistic capitalism or feudalistic Catholicism.If you include non-theistic ideologies under the rubric of "religion" that's a different kettle of fish. Would the quasi-religion of patriotism or the glorification of militarism disappear if we simply did away with theistic religion? I think not.But can we imagine not only no religion in terms of communities of worship, but also no religion in terms of political loyalties and economic ideologies.Now, that's a real challenge.