by Paul Hope
The essence of a society is its membership. How do we define membership? What commitments do members make to themselves and to each other?
Some religions extend membership primarily to the offspring and converted spouses of current members, creating what is called an “ethnoreligion,” or a group whose religious and ethnic identity are linked. Judaism, Islam, and Coptic Christianity all use circumcision as a religious marker – cutting off part of the potential membership. Christians initiate new members through the ritual of baptism, a ceremony involving water and communal oaths. It is not too difficult to get baptized.