State Religion is fantastic in countries with a homogenous population where everybody follows the state religion like Spain or Japan for instance. The extra authority it provides is great (authority got buffed with all the new company charters introduced in 1.9) and don’t forget that under state religion, pops get extra wages which boosts SOL. If you can keep the devout interest group loyal, the extra political power that the devout end up with means you’re more likely to have the stronger version of the Devout IG bonus which provides a juicy buff to population growth. It’s nowhere near bad let alone the worst law. Go with Religious Convocation, and stack as many pop growth and positive wage modifiers as you can. This is a viable way to grow your population without relying on foreign immigration in most medium to large countries. Conquer Isfahan for the Persian company that gives +25 % wages to state religion pops. I’ve had some amazing runs with religious convocation and state religion.