Sheep

A couple years ago I was visiting a church and I suddenly had a realization, or maybe more of an observation.  I remember the service was over and we all just sat there…waiting for someone to tell us to leave.  Unfortunately the job of ending the service was poorly delegated and I remember sitting there for a pretty long time.  And I looked around myself and suddenly had this revelation, “we are sheep”.  Somehow when big groups of people get together they loose all decision making capabilities,  they become less like themselves and more like the “group” (whatever that may be).  They don’t think as much, and they kind of just…obey.  This is just as true in churches as it is at activist rallies I bet.

            Now I don’t want to be completely negative and judgmental, but something doesn’t sit right when I watch my friends and fellow church members do whatever is asked of them by someone with a microphone.  I watched this past Sunday as entire services stood and shouted “as one” while firmly pounding their fists in their palms.  I’m not saying this was wrong or anything, but it all felt a bit…mindless.  I personally wasn’t sold on what the speaker was saying, I didn’t understand what the gladiator scene had to do with anything, and I didn’t stand.  Now, maybe everyone in the audience completely resonated with what the speaker was saying and were happy to stand and follow his lead.  But I can’t help but think that most people were standing and shouting because they were told to.

            In the 1960’s a psychologist named Stanley Milgram tested our compulsion to obey.  He found that 65% of subjects would administer a fatal shock to another human being if asked to do so by a man in a lab coat.

            Here is all I’m saying: We need to test all things.  I’m skeptical to a fault, and I’m not saying people need to be more like me.  But if we are not willing to disobey how are we any different than those Nazi soldiers of the holocaust?  What separates us from Manson Family?  I know it’s extreme, but I don’t think it’s absurd.

            These are just some thoughts I’ve been rolling around.  Feel free to disagree with me.