and a slavish devotion to a set of behaviours that the group has decided are “good”
I really, really, wish that problem came from religion and not universal human behavior. It would make non-religious communities so much more pleasant!
Well it’s not as if they can just look up the Universal List of Actually Good Behaviors and devote themselves to those. What should they devote themselves to if not the things they believe are good?
The slavish devotion means that they don’t question the goodness of these beliefs. Frequently I will find people (and this includes myself) engaging in behaviours that contradict key assumptions they make about what they believe to be good, because they haven’t thought carefully about those actions. Any group think can discourage critical thinking, but religious groupings can be particularly prone to it.
I really, really, wish that problem came from religion and not universal human behavior. It would make non-religious communities so much more pleasant!
Well it’s not as if they can just look up the Universal List of Actually Good Behaviors and devote themselves to those. What should they devote themselves to if not the things they believe are good?
The slavish devotion means that they don’t question the goodness of these beliefs. Frequently I will find people (and this includes myself) engaging in behaviours that contradict key assumptions they make about what they believe to be good, because they haven’t thought carefully about those actions. Any group think can discourage critical thinking, but religious groupings can be particularly prone to it.
Yes, sorry, I should have made clear that that issue is attached to the nature of the closely knit group (as I suspect the benefits are)