Further into the interview the author gives 3 distinguishing qualifiers that determine what religion is as opposed to anything else. They are
1. Categorical demands on adherents which are both absolute and non-negotiable
2. Some beliefs that are isolated against ordinary standards of reason and evidence (such as transubstantiation)
3. All religions are discharged by forms of existential consolation. They teach us how to deal with death, loss, pain and suffering. So, in the example he uses, the Sikh boy vs. the Farmer's son, the Sikh boy's claim to be able to carry a Kirpan is not just a demand made by his religion which rules his eternal life, it is also a cultural demand that proves his manhood. For the farmer's son, it is simply a family tradition. There is more weight on the side of the religion, thus more pressure on the individual to conform and more stress and harm caused by disallowing the knife.