The Members are the Problem

From the intro to Bob Altemeyer's The Authoritarians:

"Authoritarianism is something authoritarian followers and authoritarian leaders cook up between themselves [...]"

"We know an awful lot about authoritarian followers. In one way or another, hundreds of social scientists have studied them since World War II. We have a pretty good idea of who they are, where they come from, and what makes them tick. By comparison, we know little about authoritarian leaders because we only recently started studying them. That may seem strange, but how hard is it to figure out why someone would like to have massive amounts of power? The psychological mystery has always been, why would someone prefer a dictatorship to freedom? So social scientists have focused on the followers, who are seen as the main, underlying problem."

So as I was reading this I was reminded that I seem to always default to blaming the institutional church and its leaders, preferring to think of the members as unwitting victims. This seems also to be the most common take on discussion boards. I mean, we have loved ones and family who remain true believing members and we certainly don't want to blame them for all the trouble any more than we want to blame ourselves.

So then, we blame the church. It's easy to say: I hate the church for doing this! Not so easy to say the same about the members. Yet, it's worth considering that we may be hacking at a facade while the members grow stronger in their convictions.

Another thought occurred to me as I was typing-out the quotation above. How interesting is it that D&C Section 122 presents the main problem of authority as authority figures abusing their authority, whereas the findings of modern science show this to be the easiest part to understand, perhaps the easiest to defeat. While the real danger, the most perplexing problem, lies in those who abuse themselves and others by over-zealous submission to authority?

I've just begun reading The Authoritarians (thanks Chanson and Jonathan!), hoping there's something to learn here. Some truth that will become apparent such that, in the end, we might save ourselves, families, and friends from ... not form the church ... but from ourselves?

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Update: I've been a fan of Sam Harris for some time, particularly where he points out that religious moderates are to blame for enabling and excusing the excesses of religious extremists. The above, however, seems to take the idea to the next level. And not in search of blame, but in search of understanding and wisdom. That me might actually learn from an understanding of our natures and change where our survival and actualization are concerned.