"Daniel-San" (Rot13) wrote in message
. net...

"Opus" wrote ...
Is it possible to link groupthink religious organizations?

hmmm.....

Do you mean within one particular group? If so, I'd say yes in most cases,
excepting the cult-types (but have fun defining 'cult'.) I think that many
religions fall into the staid, monotypic "our way or the highway" way of
thinking, at least at the superficial level. Answering whether or not that
thinking continues once out of the church environs would require further
reading on my part. Dunno, but I'm inclined (in my cynical view of
organized religion) to believe that much of the discourse that makes up
modern American religiosity ain't much more than a bunch-o-hooey designed
to make the purveyor of said hooey look good for the neighbors.

If you mean "can all religions be put under a 'groupthink' banner?" or "do
all religions think the same way?".... well, that one seems a bit
trickier, and I suppose implies that religions are, at least at some
level, all the same. That level, I would probably argue, is somewhere in
the realm of 'controlling' or 'dominating' for the purpose of maintaining
some semblance of social/class/gender/whatever hegemony and stasis. But
this ain't my line of study, so that's not much more than a few rambling
sentences.....

Interesting question...

Dan

I realized after I had sent the post that I hadn't made myself clear.

I was referring mainly to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and yes I mean
the religion itself and not specific instances.

According to Irving Janis' 8 symptoms, each of the 3 aforementioned
religions manifest these symptoms, so I was wondeing if they could be
considered products of groupthink. I mean, so-called cults are said to be
products of groupthing, so why not major religious organizations?

Janis has documented eight symptoms of groupthink:
1. Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages
taking extreme risks.



2. Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not
reconsider their assumptions.



3. Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their
cause and therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their
decisions.



4. Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make
effective responses to conflict seem unnecessary.



5. Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express
arguments against any of the group’s views.



6. Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group
consensus are not expressed.

Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be
unanimous.



7. Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed
to be unanimous.



8. Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader
from information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s
cohesiveness, view, and/or decisions



Op