Religion isn’t inherently national because it’s rooted in personal beliefs, spiritual experiences, and metaphysical claims that transcend political boundaries. It’s a framework for meaning and morality that people adopt individually or culturally, not something tied to a nation-state by necessity. Money, though, gets tangled up with nations because it’s a practical tool for exchange and power, and those are things governments love to control.

Historically, money became national when states started minting coins or printing notes to standardize trade, tax people, and flex authority—like Rome with its denarius or modern countries with their dollars and euros. It’s less about money needing to be national and more about nations needing money to function. They enforce it through legal tender laws, central banks, and borders, tying it to their identity and sovereignty. Religion doesn’t need that kind of centralized muscle to exist; it spreads through ideas, not decrees.

Still, you could argue money doesn’t have to be national. But as long as nations hold power, they’ll keep money on a leash. Religion’s freer to roam because it’s not a threat to a government’s balance sheet. In a similar way to how I hold a belief in my heart, I also hold value in my brain.