Religiosity

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. A huge part of religion is about signalling you belong to a group - often the majority in the area

That can be benign - solidarity with your neighbours - or excluding "Others" ("how can you be in, if there is no outside?", in the words of Peter Gabriel).

Most people stay in the religion their parents brought them up in. The rituals - baptism (or its equivalent), marriage and burial - signal belonging to the group, and its role in deciding how the group continues to define who is in it. People identify with the religion, and mix in their identification with other groups. When the religion is in the majority, it becomes intertwined with the official power of the state or community, either formally, or informally. This allows racism, misogyny, and other bigotry to become religious orthodoxy.

When people do change sect in a significant way, or join an entirely new religion, it's also signalling their allegiance to a new group - either conforming with the most influential in the area, or rebelling against it.

When the idea of which group they want to be seen in has been sorted, then the matter of following the defined morals and aims of the religion can be addressed - if they find there's room. If not, membership will take priority. And some rules usually offer a handy way of policing the right of others to belong to the same group.

Nationalism offers the same opportunity to be "in" a dominant group, and to police membership, and often combines with religion.