Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
I think there's another aspect of religion: tribalism.

Speaking from an anthropological perspective: I don't believe that the one necessarily has to go with the other.

If you're Irish then you turn to the left (Catholic) or to the right (Protestant), and the difference is important enough to kill indiscriminately for. During my childhood in Scotland, one of the first questions to ask of a new friend was are you Catholic or Protestant? Sometimes you asked his name first, sometimes second. The secular rivalry between Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers is legendary, and has lately come back into the headlines when Neil Lennon, manager of Celtic, received several death threats and was assaulted by Rangers fans.

Here in Leicester, there is a large Moslem contingent. Women wearing the Hajib are commonplace as are men wearing the thaub (or something like it). They may be wearing it to denote their ethnicity (another form of tribalism), but I suggest they do it for religious purposes.

I'm sure there are plenty more examples to quote, but that'll do for now. God clearly has little to do with it.
Well considering that many of these tribal practices do not always change just because one's religion does, I would put forward that its a spurious correlation. Though I do agree that one may drive the other or interact with and change or evolve along with or because of the other etc.