In her society, however, Maria may need to construct her own reinforcements to keep her faith. Suppose that many American Catholics are like Maria—active because they want to be strongly tied to the church rather than because they share all of its politics. Commitment to the antiabortion movement might therefore be much stronger in a less Catholic society, such as the United States, than in a more solidly Catholic society. The difference is, however, not evidence of the greater intrinsic importance of the morality of abortion in the less Catholic society. Rather, abortion is taken on as an issue on the way to something else—namely, maintenance of the personal faith of future selves.

XREF: Connects to theories of minority group solidarity and religious boundary-maintenance; also echoes 'sacred canopy' decline arguments where committed minorities become more active than complacent majorities.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 239