Not what you might think …

… Ancient Identities | Commonweal Magazine. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Religious conflict did arise, but mainly in a way very different from modern religious conflict. If individuals neglected the cult that, in the public mind, enacted the soundness and fertility of humans, animals, and fields, the success of the army and the flourishing of trade, the god or gods would take revenge on the whole society, with plague, famine, economic collapse, and natural and military disasters. Not to honor one’s own god or gods was the basic contagious sin. 

Once again, the ancients sound more reasonable than many people today.