The reason these centralized powers continue to exist is for the exact same reason you mentioned. People are sheep that want authority to rule over them. They want to delegate responsibility to someone else. They don’t want to do the hard things. They don’t want to stand out and be different. But whether you prefer an entity like the government to rule over you or a religious institution like the church, makes no difference. Obedience to a government or the church makes you a sheep. Religion is a form of government after all. The only way to not be a sheep is to rule yourself. To create your own moral code and follow that.
I already mentioned that humanity living under the rule of the church during the dark ages was a horrible period. Reviving the church of Christ is not the solution and it will lead to violence. The reason it will lead to violence is because there’s no other way to get people to follow it. I certainly won’t follow it. But Jesus wasn’t violent you say? That means it has to be optional right? So if it’s optional, then what has been revived? Christianity under this anti-theism world is already optional. There’s no difference from the way the world is today. The only way to truly revive it is to place the church as the ultimate authority using violence.