the reason is Catholic vs Lutheran in the political sense (NOT theological) -- The Catholics in the south were told to see the Church as a separate political force from the state. In Lutheran north, the church became a department of the state -- especially under the Hohenzellorens. They even tried to forcibly merge Lutheranism and Calvinism.
The net result was a blind obedience to the state. This had positives as in the quicker growth, better cohesion etc. but it has negatives -- kinda similar to Japan's group-think mentality.
Really? That seems to buck at least my assumptions about Catholicism and the state. In England, Catholic kings seemed to want state and Church melded.