Our religion was separate and distinct from tribal business such as our codes of honor, ethics, morality, and law. Of course we invoked the Gods and ancestors in all that we did, and our tribal codes were a part of our worldview. But we did not make our tribal law intertwined with religion in the dogmatic way that Judaism and Islam do. Our legal codes were based on the values of our people as a people—as a tribal ethnic group.

We could call tribal Pagan law something like “customary law” versus “religious dogma.” Abrahamic law codes are supposedly revealed from some supernatural force and declared to be universal, whereas in previous eras different tribes held to their own unique law. The tribal law was not dogmatically tied to a religious structure. An argument could be made that the American idea of “separation of Church and State” has a very Pagan sensibility.

"Redefining Religion"

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