Religion and Grandiose

I though the most interesting of the reading was a single line in the article. It struck me as fantastic—“What minority, even a radicalized one, isn’t generally “tolerant” of the majority for most of its career? Even avowed terrorists and revolutionaries spend most of their days just biding their time” (115) This line relates the larger picture of religion. I think religion as a whole contributes to grandiose—exaggerated belief in ones important. Particularly with the “fundamentalist” sections of each religion, I believe that the idea of a higher power is many times the driving factor that contributes to destructive behavior. If one believes that his/her actions are being carried out for a benign reason (that of god/gods or a higher deity), they may be prone to ignore “core motives” of culture-- motives that are universal cross culturally. Grandiose, becomes a problem for fundamentalists because they fail to consider that possible repercussions of their actions. The idea of egocentrism (regarding the self as the center of all things) starts to apply to fundamentalist sections of religion, and negative occurrences such as religious war can result from such delusions. I agree that there are many benefits to religion, but there can also be extreme consequences when religious extremes preside over the norms of society.