An "Us Versus Them" Mentality!

Toxic Characteristic #3

Religious addicts are at war with the world to protect their terrain and to establish themselves as godly persons who can’t be compared to other persons of faith. In their attempt to maintain and protect their beliefs, religious addicts line everyone up in two camps: there is no middle ground. A person is either part of the toxic-faith system or against it; a person is either supportive or destructive. The toxic organization fosters this mentality until its followers believe that everyone on the outside is a threat to the ministry, has no understanding of what is “really” going on, and must be ignored if they challenge the beliefs of the religious addicts. At the point of any new threat, the leader and the religious addicts are ready to go to war. Individuals who have not made a similar investment will be perceived as enemies ready to strike at any moment.

The “us versus them” mentality is evident throughout the organization and its teachings. Religious addicts go to great lengths to stress the church’s or organization’s uniqueness. Other followers will be told of ways that each possesses special knowledge and insight unavailable to others. Some ritual or practice is often utilized as the center of that uniqueness and superiority.

When toxic believers propagate the “us versus them” mentality and rail against the evils of the world, they make personal attacks on the “sinners” and glorify the existence of the “saints.” They imply they have risen above the mundane sins of the world. The message is often that this group of addicts has come to a new level of life unattained by others. When the addicts are finished with the “us versus them” teachings, no one is attracted to the group by faith. People enter into it only by manipulation.

Religious addicts often cease to react and operate like human beings. They show no compassion for the hurting or those who feel trapped in sin. Zealous addicts make sinners feel alienated and hated. The attractive gathering nature of Christ is lost in the religious addicts’ desire to set themselves above and apart from all the rest. Self-righteousness replaces the humble service to God that probably characterized their walk of faith at the beginning. The more toxic the belief system becomes, the stronger the “us versus them” mentality of the organization grows. The larger the system becomes, the more the addicts have to protect. As the ministry grows, it will come under closer scrutiny, and some of its toxic beliefs will be revealed as such by those who suspect the motives of the leader, the addicts who follow, and the entire organization. When these investigations begin, religious addicts are manipulated into believing that they are being attacked by the enemy. The prudent course would be to admit the mission has gotten off track, confess the wrongs, and bring it back in line with biblical teachings. But religious addicts would never do that until every other option had been taken away.

Religious addicts set up an exclusive society of toxic-faith believers. Individuals prosper and succeed by supporting the beliefs and practices of the persecuted leader. Like any other society, its rules govern and control every aspect of the society and its people. Anyone not adhering to the rules is considered an enemy of the society and everyone in it. Religious practice loses its focus on God and becomes a complicated process to further the society and its rules. Those in the exclusive society believe they are serving God, but they are serving a human leader and that individual’s concept of what should and should not be. Unwillingness to serve that concept will bring on the wrath of all the religious addicts.

(From Toxic Faith, Chapter 6).