the latter requires a lot more effort from the inductee
I object here. I can’t comment on all religions, but here are the things we would ask people to do, mandatory if they wanted to join the LDS church:
No premarital/extramarital sex (one woman we helped work through a really messy divorce to a man she was separated from and marry her boyfriend who she was living with.)
No porn
No tea/coffee (and everyone in India is addicted to this)
No alcohol
No smoking
Give tithing, ie, 10% of your income
Resolve any job time conflicts so you can come to church on Sundays
...and more, but the other ones weren’t mandatory, and some like treating wives as equals, were more difficult to enforce.
You are certainly correct as far as LDS is concerned, but I was thinking more along the lines of reformed religious communities whose social expectations are little more than “attend church every once and a while” and “send your kids to religious school.”
I object here. I can’t comment on all religions, but here are the things we would ask people to do, mandatory if they wanted to join the LDS church:
No premarital/extramarital sex (one woman we helped work through a really messy divorce to a man she was separated from and marry her boyfriend who she was living with.)
No porn
No tea/coffee (and everyone in India is addicted to this)
No alcohol
No smoking
Give tithing, ie, 10% of your income
Resolve any job time conflicts so you can come to church on Sundays
...and more, but the other ones weren’t mandatory, and some like treating wives as equals, were more difficult to enforce.
You are certainly correct as far as LDS is concerned, but I was thinking more along the lines of reformed religious communities whose social expectations are little more than “attend church every once and a while” and “send your kids to religious school.”
Oh, that makes sense. I guess we were just using the same word to refer to different things ^.^