(..) law, morality and religion are three ways of controlling human conduct which in different types of society supplement one another, and are combined, in different ways. For the law there are legal sanctions, for morality there are the sanctions of public opinion and of conscience, for religion there are religious sanctions. A single wrongful deed may fall under three or two sanctions. Blasphemy and sacrilege and are sins so subject to religious sanctions, but they may also sometimes be punished by law as crimes. In our own society murder is immoral; it is also a crime punishable by death; and it is also a sin against God, so that the murderer after his sudden exit from his life at the hands of the executioner, must face an eternity of torment in the fires of Hell.
Legal sanctions may be brought in to action in instances where there is no question of morality or immorality, and the same is true about religious sanctions. It is held by the Fathers or doctors of the Christian churches that an upright and virtuous life devoted to good works will not save a man from Hell unless he has attained grace by accepting as true the specific doctrines taught by church.

(A. R. Radcliffe-Brown "Structure and Function in Primitive Society: Essays and Addresses")