Islam and sexuallity.

[abaris]

As you said, there are about 40k different denominations as far as Protestants are concerned, yet how many denominations of Catholics are there? Herein lies the difference. Islam, apart from the Shi'a-Sunnite split, which is like Catholicism and Protestantism; is very much like Catholicism, which is why Islam can never be compared to Protestantism, but Catholicism for following the rules almost to the letter.

No, Shia and Sunni are only the broad definitions. There are many more splits within these groups. Too many to mention and too many to look them up for this discussion. Also, a Shiite in Syria ticks differently than a Shiite in Iraq or Iran for that matter. First there's the cultural split between Arabs and Persians, which have totally different traditions with the only link being the religion. And then the split actually rund through nations, since the Islamic countries are far from homogenous, which is obvious when looking at a map and the straight lines making up the borders. Iraq for example is created out of three former Osmanic in some colonial office in London during the 1920ies. It has Sunnis, a majority of Shiites and Kurds, which is again a totally different culture. And then there's the clan structure, which supercedes religion as well as nationality.

All you're presenting is anecdotal evidence without looking at the big picture. So you met a few people, who supported this or supported that. That doesn't count by any standards. My grandfathers were jews. One I didn't know, since he died long before I was born. But the other enjoyed his roasted pork. He was still a jew but didn't give a damn about religious restrictions. Same goes for your boozing muslim. He obviously doesn't care.

So we're down to education. Less educated and poorer usually means more prone to fall for religious woo. You're obviously from the UK and I'm not familiar with the situation there, but I bet you that churches in rural areas are fuller than they are in the big hubs.