Trying to find a way to express a belief and a tendency within myself that would normally be said with words like "Heavy metal is my religion, NASCAR is my religion" but without the specific stereotypes and connotations that would come from literally saying that heavy metal is my religion
Going to a concert is absolutely a veneration of the gods of metal, but what does that actually MEAN? I've had the phrase "Worship at the altar of speed" in my head for months as an explanation of why I watch motorsports but that's a nonsense phrase, that's nothing.
Lady, EVOLVED 
@coriander i’m 95% confident that religious studies doctorates would be entirely on board with you saying heavy metal is your religion
@coriander so people in the U·S hear “heavy metal is my religion” and assume there is a belief system at play, or some kind of ideology, when actually what is important about heavy metal is “issues of family, cultural integrity, the transmission of tradition, sacrificial offerings, concerns of purity, ethical system, and the enforcement thereof” (to quote Wikipedia)
but the important thing is that the latter can also be the basis of religion; belief systems are optional (just not in Protestant Christianity)
@coriander one thing which might help shed some light on this is that sports and heavy metal are orthopraxy religions, not orthodoxy religions (and protestants consider the former to be pagan nonsense, so we don’t have many good examples of them in the U·S)