> We believe the ultimate moral defense of markets is that they divert people who otherwise would raise armies and start religions into peacefully productive pursuits.
Interestingly, nearly every sentence begins with "we believe," a fundamentally religious statement.
Well, it's a manifesto. That's kind of what a manifesto is - a statement of your positions. If your manifesto is not going to devise those from first principles, then "we believe" isn't a bad way of putting it. (And even if it does devise them from first principles, you still have to justify your first principles.)
That's not a "religion" by normal definitions, but it's perhaps a religious way of stating it. (It could in fact be a secular religion, but the wording of the manifesto isn't enough to show that it is.)
Interestingly, nearly every sentence begins with "we believe," a fundamentally religious statement.