The virtue signaling on one side (in and out of the church) is Satan's doing. "Spirituality" is disguised in the new Puritanism of virtue signaling. It requires nothing and allows one to declare others damnable for not acquiescing to "accepted" opinions.
On the other side, religion and the traditions of men succor the believer (and assumed believer) into thinking he's spiritual. Satan doesn't care if you're religious, in fact, that's his goal. And the churches gladly accept acts of religious devotion, regardless of their biblical accuracy.
There are churches today with "drive-through ashes" being offered. I guess anything to make people feel religious.
For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
-2 Cor 11:4
I know people who love religion, it's the Bible they hate. It's the cross they hate. I've known Christians who, similarly, love religion and fail to test doctrine lest they be called names. Some get hung up on non-biblical issues in the name of Christian purity because it simply makes them feel superior.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.
-2 Cor 11:14-15
“[Satan’s] temptations are aimed, not against morals, but against faith. He is the ‘god of this world’, and influences and controls, not its vices and crimes, but its religion - hence the neglect and rejection of Christianity.”
- Sir Robert Anderson, (excerpt, The Silence of God)
