Religion = Coping Device?

[MMI]

I think there's another aspect of religion: tribalism.

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.

[denuseri]

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.

[MMI]

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.

You do have a point, den, and you might be right. I cannot always tell Moslem Pakistanis apart from Indian Moslems, but I do think I can often distinguish Hindus from Sikhs and from Moslems by their mode of dress. Not all of them. Those who adopt European dress, I cannot tell apart at all, and some modes of dress are common to all religions, but here in Leicester, you see all sorts of clothing styles, and they do seem to relate to particular religions.

However, the dead Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants are not distinguished by race: they are all Irish. The sectarianism in Glasgow is not due to different races coming together, but different religions. The antagonists are from the same city!

Have you heard of Glasgow's Razor Gangs? There were such gangs in other British towns in the 30's, but in Glasgow, they were a particular problem. It was not just gang fights that were the trouble, but the fact that the gangs were divdied along religious/sectarian lines.