Group dynamics!!! That I could understand! When I was a charismaniac Christian, I felt accepted and part of a group. Had the Pastor told us that the government was of the antichrist, and provided circumstantial evidence, as a group who knows what we would have done???
You might want to read
WE FEW, WE HAPPY FEW, WE BAND OF BROTHERS, by J. Anderson Thomson, Jr for an interesting account of male coalitionary violence. A little more is needed than just religion, but religion does 'hijack' certain evolved traits that can lead to bad things.
quote:
A parsimonious formulation of suicide terrorism supported by the evidence is: Male bonded coalitionary violence, with lethal raiding against innocents is as old as our species, even older. The capacity is embedded in all males (Wrangham). The potential for suicide resides in all of us, both males and females. The evidence suggests two types of evolved suicide potentials: negative inclusive fitness (de Catanzaro), and retaliation bargaining (Hagen). The first arises from a sense of burdensomeness and animates female suicide bombers. The second originates from positions of humiliation and powerlessness and characterizes male suicide bombers. Religion is a cultural construct, a product of human minds. Many of the evolved cognitive adaptations which generate religious beliefs can be exploited to motivate suicide terrorism. This makes religion a powerful ideology which can simultaneously hijack the evolved capacities for lethal raiding and suicide.
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