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is, while the Mother Church will deny a ‘‘real’’ national identity to pretty well all those who do
not share their religious identity, other religions will include the Mother Church and religions
further ‘‘up’’ the hierarchy, but exclude those ‘‘beneath’’ them in the pecking order. Another
pattern that is illustrated when looking at the National Churches is an asymmetry in the
permeability or negotiability of the boundary. At the individual level, for example, there are ways
in which it is easier to lose than to gain the identity of a national religion. Although there are
converts to Christian Orthodoxy, they risk being somewhat marginalized in their new identity.
They are not really Russian Orthodox—they only believe and do certain things that the Russian
Orthodox believe and do. Related to this is the fact that National Churches tend not to proselytize,
and this can make them liable to be indignant about religions that do so. Proselytizers, it maybe
claimed, are not observing the correct order of things—they are threatening God-given boundaries,
or at least historically sanctified boundaries.
Sometimes the geo-political location for religious identity is asymmetrical at the macro rather than
the micro-level. This can be observed when the religious boundary extends beyond the national
boundary, but those encompassed by the national boundary are assumed to be included,
automatically, within the wider religious boundary. Thus, although the Catholic Church extends
beyond any one nation, there are undoubtedly claims made that‘‘real’’ national identity involves
Catholic identity in, say, Poland, Slovenia,Croatia, Eire and Portugal. A similar geo-political
attribution can occur in a Protestant nation. I have heard a Norwegian comment that his neighbour
was not a real Norwegian because he was a Methodist, and it is not uncommon to hear English
Catholics being accused of not being really English. More recently, being Islamic has been
considered a problem for membership of the European Union consortium of nations. And, of
course, national religions are not all Christian. Quite a lot could be written about the national
functioning of Shinto, for example. But while what is sometimes called State Shinto has clearly
reinforced national identity and solidarity, while strengthening separatism and conflict with
foreigners, what has been called shrine Shinto might be more usefully thought of as belonging to
my next type—that is, as being a local rather than a national religion.
The Local Location
Local religious identity has a geo-cultural rather than a geo-political boundary. Examples include
the aboriginal tribal religions described in Durkheim’s ([1915] 1968) The Elementary Forms of
Religious Life, or the kind of paganism that venerates local gods of, say, the Baltic region. It is the
earth (including the local waters and the local sky) to which this religion belongs—it is nature
rather than society that can claim the sacred.While, like the Shinto kami, pagan gods and deities
can claim an ancient history, they have also been revived in new religious forms. Like the
national, local religions are unlikely to feel a need to proselytize and it could be dificult for a
person of Japanese origin to become a member of Romuva, a Pagan religion which, although it is
open to all and has branches in other parts of the world such as the USA, is unambiguously linked
to Lithuanian culture. Despite, or perhaps because of their relatively impermeable boundaries,
local religions can co-exist peacefully with religious traditions of a different location. Some do,
however, point out that it is Christianity, not paganism, which is the new kid on the block and
show the disdain for Christianity that the latter has shown for new religions.
The Biological Location
While national and local religious identities present obstacles for foreigners to cross their
boundaries, the challenge is far greater with religions circumscribed by biological boundaries. The
genetic transmission of Judaism is matrilineal; in Zoroastrianism, inheritance is patrilineal. Some
witches claim their craft was passed through their maternal ancestry. In the Hindu caste system, it
is not merely the religion that is passed on through birth, but one’s place in the social order of that
religion, be it as a Brahmin or a Dalit. There are new religions that claim to have started up new,
biologically transmitted lineages. Moon teaches that when his followers participate in the Holy
Wine Ceremony that precedes their mass marriages or Blessings, their blood lineage is purified;