I enjoyed reading your short pictorial article 'Birodh' and glad that you raised this issue, and indeed timely. In my first university lecture in 1977, my teacher of Social Anthropology was lecturing on Society and Culture, and I clearly remember she articulated, "what we are that is our culture and what we use that is our civilisation".
In a society or community, we have interaction between individual to individual, group to group, and individual to group and vice versa. Our values, attitude, needs and interest determine how we interact, and these are somehow influenced by our culture and belief system. Amongst other (such as legal and civic obligations), religious belief and/or belief system influences heavily the way we lead our life, maintain social control and shape our culture.
Culture is dynamic, it evolves over time, as we accept new and emerging trends, we become more accepting and permissive of things which were unimaginable decades earlier.
Still, general consensus is that religion is larger than culture as belief system crosses cultural boundaries, while both are integral to each other, and to human society.
The concluding sentences of your article summed up my views as well. That is the way you felt and expressed it, and indeed should be.
Thank you
Helal Morshedi,
Hammondville
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Home Page Published on: 3-Jul-2008 
