One dimension of religious life we have in common across faith traditions and
denominational lines is the incessant divisiveness that split our seemingly monolithic
communities into dozens of similar yet tenaciously varied subgroups. A Jewish professor
of psychology said of his tradition, "If there are ten Jewish males in a city we create a
synagogue. If there are eleven Jewish males we start thinking about creating a competing
synagogue."
A Baptist police officer had a similar tale. He said, "One Baptist family in a
