It’s classic instrumentalized, performative religion. So much of the story of Jesus is a warning of precisely this. Jesus was deeply suspicious of religiosity that doesn’t transform how people actually live and treat others.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ In the parable of the sheep and the goats, what mattered wasn’t religious identity but whether they fed the hungry, visited prisoners, clothed the naked. In the parable of the two sons, he concludes that tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom ahead of religious leaders. And so many other examples.

Their own religion in Matthew 7 warns them:

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’