I know this is sort of an old hat observation, but the problem (or problems) doesn't really lie in the divisions between the sacred and the profane, but rather the problem is the opposition itself, as a self-reinforcing and self-intensifying force. Or: that which is sacred becomes ever more so the more profane something is felt to be, and vice versa, and the clefts that form between those things in a society deepen between those who are closer to a given category.
And this is a problem that crops up pretty much everywhere; you can generalize the "sacred" and "profane" to just about as far as it will go, as a general opposition between that which is revered and cherished, and that which is considered base and lowly. It is a very old habit of thought, and perhaps deeper, a very old instinct.
