To be a Christian means to be counter-cultural, to stand
out from the crowd, to not conform to the world around us. To be outside
the “norm” is often frowned upon. As a matter of fact, most people will do
almost anything to fit in. Remember Milgram’s experiment? Sometimes it is easy
to see when someone is trying to conform, and sometimes it is not.
There is a felt need to conform. It manifests itself in
many forms, and is usually a result of a person’s desire to get along with
others. People want to be accepted, and conformity is usually the quickest
route. The Bible teaches that we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. It does
not matter in the context of this paper whether we believe they were real
people or representations in Hebrew poetry. Although I do believe in the more
literal version, for this discussion they are an image that helps us to
understand the origins of why people conform.
If we are all inter-related as the
Bible teaches, then the desire to go along in order to be accepted is an action
based in our need to belong. Belonging also fulfills our need for consistency
of behavior by saying, in essence, we are following the same rules as everyone
else, and we are not a threat to the group. When we conform we help others by
being more predictable in our behavior. Usually the overall outcome of
conformity is an increase in our self-esteem because by conforming we have been
accepted, and therefore we feel better about ourselves.
In church this can
become a mind numbing experience. I have seen members who take conformity to a
dangerous level.
When members of the group (those who have conformed)
obtain their identity from the group it becomes easy to overlook their own shortcomings.
They find their self-worth from within the group, and with so much good going
on with the group they will often relax their own standards and obtain a faulty
self-image by live vicariously though others.
The social impact theory tells us
that people obtaining a faulty self-image, and making decisions they would not
normally make is increased greatly with church size. The more people the more
sheep-like they become. How important the group is to them only makes decision
making worse, and a sense of belonging in a religious community is a strong
motivator of behavior. However, there is a more insidious element to conforming
to the extreme.
Group-think is probably the most dangerous trend we face
as Christians, the church, and a nation. When conformity leads to a style of
thinking where the maintenance of the group’s cohesion becomes the highest
priority, dangerous thinking will usually result.
Conformity that leads to
unanimity as an overriding principle and motivation that acts as a filter
through which everything the group does is passed thru can lead to disastrous
outcomes.
This is why we often see people from the church, and the political
world, acting as if they are invincible, rationalizing what they do, believe
they are correct in the face of facts to contrary, get upset when others point
out their errors, and pressure others to conform to their beliefs. Over-conformists
tend to be dogmatic (past convictions to insanity); they justify irrational
behaviors, see themselves as morally superior to others, and will stereotype or
vilify outsiders.
Most of the time over conformity stems from pluralistic
ignorance. That is when people adopt the norms of others even when they run in
opposition to their own beliefs. For the sake of remaining within the allotted
space, remember that to be a Christian does not mean we have to check our
brains at the door. We are to love God with our heart, soul, and mind.
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