Quote Originally Posted by trini_gsr
this is a really good point. only thing i'd say here is that when the group gets big enough you tend to have the "alpha male" figures develop a form of loose leadership...which eventually centralizes with increased organization. and you're going to have those folks in the group that idolize the ppl in the group that seem to embody what the group is about. that's just the psychology of how groups work...
Not disagreeing with your train of thought by any means, but to touch on an earlier point that you made, the church is an embodiment of people and so similar thinking will occur, friends of friends explaining a concept, father/family relationships, Sunday school teachers... etc.... like thinking will occur.

i have to disagree here. depending on how you look at it, the stakes are quite different. yeah at the end of the day it's ppl lives...but each of those examples you mentioned are different ASPECTS of life and some of them (marriage, family) are more important than others (sports, cars)...
Though differing aspects are still the same... aspects. And yes, some "should" be more important than others, but it depends on who you talk to. I've seen people take sports more seriously than their families, some their cars over a brother or sister, some money over a marriage. Depending how you view "religion," it may be another aspect for some... There's a point that I'm coming to but I'll save it for another bit.