- plays a key role, not only in formation of society (via the moral principles it created) but also in the development of the state and of nation. Language, we will see, plays a more limited role, generally following lines drawn by religion. In Yugoslavia, for example, the Serbs and Croatians speak the same language, but the Serbs use the Cyrillic script, as is consistent with their religion - the Eastern Orthodox Christianity, while the Croatians use the Latin script, as is consistent with their religion, namely Catholicism. Language distinguishes the different parts of the Swiss nation -Switzerland is divided into cantons according to the different languages and so too the Supreme Court's judges are chosen to represent the different language populations. This in no way, however, threatens a breakup of the Swiss nation. In Belgium as well, though states are generally organized along linguistic lines, neither the Flemish nor the Walloons desire autonomy but rather only the opportunity to live separately and remain distinct. These two ethnic sectors are actually so united, that recently when the Walloons began moving into Flemish districts and attempted to establish a French school system there, the Flemish and Walloons worked together in the legislature to foil this attempt. They declared, in other words, that in order to discourage this assimilation of cultures and language outside of the capital city (where it was permitted), they would make it difficult for a person who dared move to a different ethnic group's district, to educate his children. Brass' starting point, in his book, is that language has the potential to divide, and to unite different sectors. He questions why the Mithyali who speak Mithyali gradually abandon their language and begin speaking Hindi instead, while the Sikhs and Muslims in the Indian Federation zealously guard their distinctive tongue. He concludes that it is religion that causes people to tenaciously cling to their own language while rejecting their country's official language. Brass demonstrates how in India too, religion plays a key role in drawing the lines in the conflict between the Hindus and Muslims. Since Mithyali follow the Hindu religion, like the Hindus who speak Hindi, while the Muslims speak Urdu, the Mithyali identify with the Hindu side in this religious-nationalistic conflict and even wind up having their children adopt the Hindi language. Let us consider what would happen in Israel to the Arabic language that is the mother tongue of the immigrants from Arab countries if a bitter struggle were not taking place between Jewish and Arab nationalities. It is likely that under such circumstances, Jews emigrating from Arab countries would have continued speaking their native tongue much longer, as in fact was the case with German immigrants in the 1930's and with Russian immigrants presently. The Arab Israeli conflict played a major role in motivating Jewish immigrants from Arab countries to renounce Arabic, though there were additional factors that influenced also European immigrants.