Difference is that weather only affected them in story, but that's it. In actual multiplayer weather is always random and never gives one character a higher probability of one certain weather than another. And I feel the religion meter thing is the same, it doesn't affect anything other than a fun fact based on the attacks you have mapped.
In either case, I need to rephrase what I meant to say. I didn't mean what they believe in, but what their skill relates to, which partially pertains to what they believe in.
I think we are talking about different things. Their techniques, you can map them however you want, so even if they only have 1 or 2 skills in Buddhism, you can max out the Buddhism bar. But that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about how the techniques themselves and how the characters start with a specific pattern. Those, I do not think is coincidental on where they are placed in the religion skill tree.
So, back to weather. In actual game play, weather is random, but what we got from weather is from their dialogue, which mentions what personalities each character has, because of their temperament. This is not to say that Marisa would likely have "drizzle" weather, but to say that, because her weather is "drizzle", her personality is so and so.