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I think the fundamental problem is that there's an underlying assumption that you are broken in some way, and you can get "fixed" by joining a group and performing some sort of ritual behavior. Human beings are social animals who tend to identify themselves by the group they belong to - it's the "my school is better than your school" syndrome. Because we tend to feel insecure when we are just out here stumbling along on our own, we are the most vulnerable to invitations to join this or that group when we are feeling lonely, lost, depressed, isolated or disconnected. Because we feel so much better (or convince ourselves that we do, at any rate) after joining one of these groups, we then tend to become "evangelists," telling anyone who will listen about THE ANSWER to life's problems.

This is how religions - especially those that are performance-oriented (Pentecostal and Charismatic, for example) - are born, and that's how they continue to thrive.

The truth is that the more emphasis placed on performance (saying the right phrases, raising your hands in the proper way during worship, not smoking, etc.), the less emphasis placed on personal growth and private spiritual development. That is the irony in organized religions: the closer one gets to "perfection" (as the group defines it), the further away one gets from enlightenment and a working relationship with whatever you believe god to be.

Jesus tried to explain this, by the way. He said when people pray in public, their reward is in the performance and audience approval, but if they want their true spiritual needs met, to pray in private. The bottom line is that we behave according to who we are, and where we happen to be on our own path at any given time. To put this into practical terms, if you need to quit smoking, you will quit. If you continue to smoke, it's because you aren't ready to quit. But whether you quit or not, you are no more or less "spiritual" than someone who is a non-smoker.

My 2 cents.

Rob