Religion as a force for cultural homogenization doesn't require a single religion. A Catholic society with a pluralism of sects and opinions is still more homo

Religion as a force for cultural homogenization doesn't require a single religion. A Catholic society with a pluralism of sects and opinions is still more homogeneous than a non-Catholic, more individually-independent alternative. Even a Catholic / Anglican split society is more homogeneous in the sense of grand bargains being feasible, in the sense that there are fewer, discrete, and more hierarchical power centers who can bargain with each other. One of the great failures of cultural liberalism in the 1960s to effect more change was an inability to organize into coherent, unified, large groups of voters that could function and bargain within a democracy. If every asshole gets an opinion, it's hard to arrive at a "nobody is happy, but everyone is optimally least-sad" bargain.