...Loyalty, however, can be at least as detrimental an influence as it can be a beneficial one"
(I don't know the author of this quote as of right now)
I found this quote in a GRE study book, and here is my comment to it.
While it is true that loyalty is held in a high regard by most humans; it is also true that loyalty with blinders can be detrimental. Christianity is the largest proof of loyalty gone wrong. Christianity is an entity in which all believers must be loyal to their God, their congregation, their leaders, and to the religion itself. Any disloyalty is met with judgment and shunning - even though Christianity preaches against one brother judging another. However, let one believer state they do not believe, and the entire church will disown them as a member. In this case, being loyal to God, church, and religion keeps one socially acceptable, but disloyal to one's self, especially if you are not a believer. It then becomes a question of whether one venerates loyalty to one's self over the loyalty to one's church.
In order to be loyal to one's God, church, and religion one must believe. If one does not believe, but yet pretends to; then disjustice and disloyalty to one's self is apparent and thereby detrimental to the well being of self. While being detrimental to one's self by claiming loyalty when there is none, one is also being detrimental in relationships with the church and its parishioners. Relationships will fall apart when the deception is learned, and trust will be lost.
On the other hand, having an intense loyalty to God can be detrimental, as well. Believing God can cure anything or protect one from evil causes one to believe there is no need for safe guarding against criminals, or getting a life saving medical procedure. Intense loyalty to God can drive a wedge between one's self, family, and friends, thereby isolating an individual. Intense loyalty to God can make one blind to the world surrounding a person. Sometimes waiting on a miracle from God can be far more detrimental than heeding the words of a law man or a news reporter.
One of the most recent examples of faith-based loyalty with blinders resulted in the detriment of thousands of people as they died in the attacks on New York's twin towers and on the planes of September eleventh. Men with blinding loyalty to their country, their leader, and their God led countless humans to their deaths. The falling of the twin towers stands everlastingly as a reminder of a detrimental loyalty to faith and country. Even the Christian bible affords many examples of detrimental loyalty. The story of one man's trek up a mountain to murder his son because God had told him to is just example of loyalty old as time, and just as detrimental.
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