Anne, for me, I do it without concertation with any member of this forum. I do it because, first, I see it as polite because spirituality (embodied in a particular religion form in that case) is a mostly sensitive subject, and second, I do it like I use Chinese sticks to eat in Chinese restaurants (because I like to try other manners of doing usual day to day actions). It is not a religious act for me, and I do not have the impression to follow a priest.
I am fan of Cohen (and only of him - I am not the average fan type person at all - I feel strange to be in a fan club at all, what ever it is - but Ey! (ey!ey! and ey! again. C'est la vie!) but he is not a deity to me. I am inspired by his spirituality and enjoy it very much, tough.
I also think that Cohen is not cramped in his religious back ground because otherwise he would have done a rabbi not a poet. Obviously.
Ligthning, 2 "-" means the contrary of 1 "-". Obviously again, it is NOT use to talk about a sacred act.
BTW I read somewhere on the net (but do not believe everything you read!) that this means : "Fornication Under the Consentment of the King" and that was put on the house where couples had the permission of "Our Majesty" to have children? False or True?
As for the idols of the show business - very paien idea, this, replacing the religions, there is a lot of alternatives. Only no one can return in the past in this regard. This said, It is pleasant enough to gather around an artist and this is enough to continue to do it as long as possible.
of joining together with another person. Perhaps, the marriage would've done better had I used the [~], instead, hence the suggestion of 'eternity,' from my perspective 
. Bottom line on the 'omission' 
