A tribal dilemma

Subject: A tribal dilemma.

It is hard to enter into the spirit of those times when people sort redemption in the English church. The establishment has for years been on the back foot as it seeks to mediate with a rapidly changing society. As the population changed on these islands  the incomers brought with them not only their families and new skills but also their views on life and how life should be celebrated. The customs and the traditions which in some cases were alien to the ways of this island state found a space in the existing society by elbowing out and finding room where before non existed. 
Even in my lifetime the church has diminished in so far as attendance is concerned and importantly, in so far as the social importance of the worship, the community within a community, which manifest itself on a Sunday by setting the day apart from the other days of the week and then by the rituals of service, morning and evening as people gathered at the church door to be counted by the vicar.

There never seemed the hell and damnation of the Catholic Church, the seeking of repentance that private exposing of your sins before gods representative on earth the priest to seek some sort of annulment of your sin so long as you recited the requisite Hail Mary's. The English church, or the Church of England had become much more akin to a social club and this was reflected by the hierarchy in the church moving outside its walls to find the soul in torment amongst the non attendee in the youth clubs and the refuge centres for the abandoned. It became a band aid for those people who had succumbed to the pressure of living in a modern society.
The Archbishop was and is forever trying to find a solution to the social ills in society and whilst other churches and places of worship still practice the fear of God to wrest the people through their doors the English church is more benign.  
This message of hell and damnation is a strong message especially as people grow old but it would be seen that in religions where the tradition of attending church or mosque is more ingrained in the believers mental fabric, it seems to instil a willingness to devote oneself to the rituals of observance and is seen to strengthen their lives on earth and especially in the community to which they belong. 
The Jewish community is an example of the tribal link tracing its way back into antiquity where the testament to the word of god was born specific to a particular tribe, which to this day sees itself separate and different. For the Jewish person the ritual of the Friday meal and the abstinence  of labour on a Saturday is for many  a rigidly enforced domain, to remain in the tribe this structural focus on who you are in relation to the others in the Synagogue, lends the believer great strength in the assumption of who they are and their importance in the eyes of God.
It's not psychobabble this belief in a creator, it's rigid fact to the believer and the gap between the practicing Christian, the Muslim or the Jew is both wide and narrow depending on which part of the observed ritual they espouse. 
They all believe in god. They all belong to a structure which guides and protects them. It's the intensity of that 'family belief' which sets them apart and, as with most families they are less inclined to look outside the family for friendship and direction. 
Yet another tribal dilemma if ever there was one.