lightning's problem is its brittle network topology
the use of onions was specifically about reducing the chances of an attacker knowing the whole path, but for practical reasons the endpoints are not anonymised from each other
also, it's not a sect if you are chasing after the real thing, all cults are about a false goal, that is promoted by a person or group
monero sacrifices supply rate guarantees to get its anonymity and this is not anacceptable trade off
the fixed supply is far more important than the anonymity