This article views culture as collective identities from an interpretative, sense-making perspective. It analyses religion-based cross-cultural conflict through the example of two ethnographic studies of multicultural high-tech organizations undergoing change. Specifically, it looks at professional identity and the practice of religion among a diverse group of highly qualified technical employees. The aim is to show when and how difference in religious practice creates cross-cultural conflict. The examples given will be from various nationalities (German, Indian, Iranian) and from various religious practices (Christian, Hindu, Muslim). Based on these findings, a model of how to assess cross-cultural conflict from an interpretative perspective is developed. This article makes two contributions to cross-cultural conflict management. First, it gives an account of how transnational professional identities, external and organizational culture, religious practice and conflict are linked in two specific high-tech work environments. Second, it proposes a model of how to assess cross-cultural conflict in cultural complexity from an emic perspective.