Dr. Strangemonkey said:
There certainly isn't anything to be afraid of, but in the local area ethnically diverse generally means a diversity of points of view, social priorities, personalities, and personal behavior. So it's a really nice and interesting experience when it happens.
Does anyone here think sectarian differences are signficant? In my current scene they certainly are, though I wouldn't guess that it is as bad as it is in other areas.
The local sectarian breakdowns are, in terms of rough social priority: conservative Protestants, liberal Protestants, Roman Catholics, assorted 'Hippie' non or lax believers, Jews, devout atheists, really liberal protestants, and Muslims and other locally very small sects.
This may sound kind of quaint to a lot of posters, but in the local area these differences matter a lot and are subject to a lot of discussion and social/political action.
When I went to high school here, for instance, all religious symbols other than the Latin cross were dubbed satanic and students found wearing them were suspended or expelled. A young man who's family had fled the Soviet Union to avoid sectarian persecution was wearing a Star of David and the most celebrated victim of the policy at my school.
In some ways, sect helps determine local ethnicity and class. My family is Catholic, for instance, and we have all had a very different experience of local ethnic construction than our peers. Things aren't so set in stone for us as they are for other groups, and we are often allied with certain subsets of the local Hispanic community both by choice and by others. My sister often encounters comments that she "doesn't look Catholic." Similarly, joining the right local church is often seen as 'step up.'
