Random grammar thought, seems like an interesting correlation at the moment.
Among Indo-European languages, the Catholic or Orthodox cultures (Latin, Slavic) prefer reflexive verbs as a way of expressing passive or middle voice. Protestant and Islamic cultures (Germanic, English, Arabic) prefer distinct active and passive forms.
Latin started with a distinct passive, then replaced it with reflexives after Catholic Christianity took over in the Latin lands.
What does this correlation imply?
Reflexive doesn’t mean the output is applied directly to the input of the same entity. Reflexive verbs imply that the nominative soul is acting on the accusative body.
A rare English example is Now I lay me down to sleep. I(soul) is laying down me(body).
A passive form implies that the actor is one unified entity, without a separate nominative soul and accusative body.
Muslims and Protestants and polytheists have a unified God and a unified Person. The God or Gods and the Person can relate to each other and act on each other, but they don’t occupy the same space.
Catholics see God and body occupying the same space, as in the Trinity or Communion.
Polistra's Mill 