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Notes -
I would tend to think the strictness is probably more of a long term help than the rather lax modern Christian practice, or the even more lax pagans. The reason is that the West is losing a sense of cohesion and shared mores. A religion with shared dogma and strict practices would seem like a way to get the structure that’s lacking in the modern secular system. Thus Saith The Lord has a finality to it that “because it’s current year” doesn’t. Having a practice that gives structure to the day or week would seem to give a much stronger shared community than a loose structure.
The strictness won't stick though. Islam is being watered down slowly but surely. Again, it's going in the same direction as Christianity, and is just several decades behind. Years of fundamentalism have brought mostly just violence and secular crackdown, both foreign and domestic. Less than a third of Iranians would classify themselves as Shia Muslims, and about as many Iranians believe in genies as compared to critical religious concepts like "heaven and hell". You can't have an atheistic cultural religion. The continuing failure of "cultural Christianity" to attain widespread appeal proves this.
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