The confusion comes from the fact that a lot of what passes for "religion" in contemporary consumerist societies operates in exactly the same transactional mode as the rest of life. It's a kind of consumer capitalist degeneration of religion, where the original religious function (reconnecting) has become overwhelmed by the consumerist dynamic of making payment (financial or by performing supposedly "moral" or "godly" acts) for some reward (salvation, heaven, prosperity or just membership of the club).