culture/religion a symbiotic sin?

My friend says culture is symbiotic, this is indisputable and but I think there are men who have overcome this. Overcoming this can be a virtue and at times could be a tragedy.

You can be cultural/religious, nothing wrong in it. But sometimes culture touches the sacred things and gets too close to the heart. You know how ugly those finger-prints on your eye glasses can be: culture could be as bad/out-of-place as them when seen at wrong place.

my bitter experience with culture/religion has lead me to believe that culture/religion are a symbiotic sin