From the article, drawing heavily on Max Scheler:
“Humankind––according to mimetic theory––is not (as Marx thought)
homo economicus but rather homo religious. Mensonge Romantique et
Vérité Romanesque, Girard’s first essay (1961), evocatively opens with a
saying by Max Scheler: “L’homme possède ou un Dieu ou une idole” (Man has
either a God or an idol).
If we may believe Girard, the Enlightenment profoundly misunderstood human beings because it naively assumed that doing
away with “ancient superstitions” would fully liberate them: “denial of God
does not eliminate transcendence but diverts it from the au-delà to the en-deçà”
(Girard 1965, 59).”
Check out What is Deviated Transcendency