At the time many people still lived as crofters, and it wasn’t really possible to live that life without the support of the community around you. Publicly refusing to observe the Sabbath was one way to loose some support.

Bringing the peats home would be done with the help of half the village, and a loan of a tractor and trailer. Moving the sheep between islands was also a community affair. Gathering the sheep when it’s time to separate and mark the lambs was a big another event. If someone had a particularly good day fishing, or any other windfall, it would be shared among the village. Struggling to pull your boat up the beach, 3-4 men would magically appear to help. You didn’t need to ask for help it was just assumed that it would be received and given, and being first on hand to help was something to be proud of.

To a certain extent the help of the community is still given, but the decline in crofting means that people no longer need the day to day help of their neighbours to survive. People are free to plough their own furrow as it were.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 2 Sep 2011, 14:47, 2 replies)

Are they mainly peadobiffs?
Or is that the Orkneys?
( browser still relating boring anecdotes into a void on, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 15:07, closed)

Nah. Very few Catholics on the island.

( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:23, closed)

Some of the other islands, though...
North Uist is stauchly Wee Free, and South Uist is largely Catholic. In between the two there is a large military base. I believe this didn't happen coincidentally.
(richardm, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:45, closed)

Just on the subject of community spirit controlled by the church
It could backfire horribly; see what happened to the St. Kildans when they got a particularly hellfire-and-brimstone preacher, John MacKay. He had them so strictly churchified that they very nearly starved to death because they could never get any work done.
(richardm, Fri 2 Sep 2011, 16:48, closed)