The highest authority recognised by people who do not believe in God is
a bunch of politicians.
The highest authority recognized by people who believe in a god is “my
particular brand of god, not yours”.
They point to their particular religious book as “the word of my god”, yet
they disagree, often quite violently, about how to interpret the vague,
empty platitudes that such books are full of. “You are not a true follower
of religion X”, they say to each other, “and this part of the religious
book proves it”. To which the other person replies “you’re interpreting it
wrong”.
Sound familiar?