So who is behind the COVID 'religion'

I think putting it like this is an oversimplification, and it's more on the side of the "conspiracy theories" than many different opinions about how this pandemic was handled. Why there must be an intention of a specific group of people behind anything? THAT's conspiracy theories.

I don't think it works like this, there's never a single cause to anything. Events arises when many causes and conditions are ready. For instance, H1N1 didn't stopped the world in its tracks because back then we couldn't work from home as much as we can today, there wasn't that easy to form opinion currents as it is right now with algorithmic news and social media, and probably many, many other causes that I can't grasp right now. This viral wave came on a different context, and it created a different outcome. I'm not saying anywhere it was provoked by someone, I'm saying that one of the societal reactions to it was the emergence of a new religion.

Interesting thing about bringing a flat earther here. It proves that just because you think the world works in a certain way, it doesn't necessarily works like that. You may believe with all your being that the Earth is flat, based on circumstantial and limited evidence, and yet, the Earth is round, when you have all the information. Similarly, you may believe with all your being that anyone who doesn't wear a mask can cause you an infection, but it doesn't necessarily be like that. I mean, that person may have antibodies already, either by going through the illness, or by taking a vaccine, and you have no way of knowing it. You think based on circumstantial and limited evidence.