(November 28, 2015 at 10:37 pm)Waitingforthemothership Wrote: I do think you're wrong about religion and groupthink. There's no thinking going on in most religions. But we can certainly IMAGINE religions in which thinking is happening. Buddhism is a good example as, even though the sort of Buddhism taught in Asian universities is devoid of religious dogmatism and ritual, it is still religious in that it grapples with existential theological/cosmological questions and issues.
Forgive my delay, but I had to get home to my computer to address this other part of your post. I firmly disagree with this claim here.
Religion is clearly a form of thinking -- all religion. It happens inside the brains of individuals of all religions, and for that matter all non members. No I, and apparently you, happen to disagree with the output of this thinking, but that doesn't mean it isn't thinking. Thinking is, to use the first noun subdefinition of the Oxford, "the process of using one’s mind to consider or reason about something[/url]. Let me draw your attention to the phrase "using one's mind to consider". Clearly believers are doing this; it is not an autonomic response, it is not something done by the lungs or muscles. It is done in the mind, and by definition, that is a thought.
Dogma is thought. Freethought is thought. Deciding what you want for lunch is thought.
Given on the basis above that religion is thinking of a sort, I think it's absolutely fair to classify it as groupthink: "The practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility". Synods and conventions and catechisms hand down mental approaches from on high, and followers of this or that particular faith face opprobrium if they choose to not toe the line.
Just because someone's thinking doesn't line up with yours, doesn't share your predicates and premises, doesn't mean that thinking isn't happening. It can mean that they're wrong, you're wrong, you're both right, or in very rare instances, you're both right.
