ABSTRACT
One might say that religion is inclusive since it welcomes new adherents quickly and easily into its folds. However, the processes of proselytizing and conversion easily become highly political. Whereas ethnicity deals with the immense number of ethnic groups around the world – perhaps in the thousands, depending on how they think of themselves and mobilize their political demands – theories of political consequences target the world religions, some ten in number, and the few major sects within them. Either one theorizes about the political implications of religious heterogeneity in a country, also known as religious fragmentation, or one attributes social, economic and political consequences to the predominant religion in the country.
