Why can people found "religions" that have more to do with a frat house than any respectable religion in all liberty, while using the "duel" game mechanic for a friendly joust can result is severe reprimand?
Why are duels sacred, and not the single most important social construct of the middle ages?
I'd say religions are worse off now than when there were no game mechanics for them. There was no incentive to create hollow religions back then that would compete with the serious ones at least.
Religions only gain power over realms when the realms will it so, usually when the realm founder creates it so, because of the current context of BM religions.
If we control religions more tightly, force them to act and resemble actual religions, then we'll have a drop of SMA everything, a more serious and immersive atmosphere where active and energetic people are much more competitive then lazy and uninterested ones.
Most current religions should be nothing more than *guilds*. If a faith can't bother to write what's good and what's wrong, then it shouldn't exist at all, and it should outright be removed from the game to leave room to other more interesting ideas and religions.
This is the only way to make religions a greater vector of interest, change, and fun.
For as long as Tom and the Devs don't take the issue as seriously as they took the usage of "Question nobility", of duels, of the military hierarchy, of character names and of oaths, success stories as for as religions go will remain isolated to where context and coincidence allowed a unique and non-replicable situation to arise.