ON: Those whose need is religion/cults/sects

From a book I am reading by Susan Hepburn,
an English author.
No don't bother reading it
...not great literature at all,
but this one passage struck me.



"It's fascinating the way the group mind can work
- or the individualmind, in cases like this.
People want something to believe in, but nine
times out of ten, they can't be bothered to
think for themselves.Want someone else to work it
out for them and tell them what's so. It ultimately
comes down to an abnegation of personal responsibility
- let the leader decide - whether that leader is Stalin,
the Pope, or somebody like Jim Jones or David Koresh.
And that gives power to the ones they put on a pedestal.
Their word is law, because their word is God's word.
On the other hand, of course, in the less hierarchical
types of sects or cults, the set-up attracts those who
are powerless or marginalised in modern society. In the
world, they're nobody. In their group, they can be a
prophet or speak in tongues. They have their own
hot-line to God without the mediation of a leader,
 and that validates them,gives them a sense of
self-worth, makes them feel they're important after
 all - in the divine plan, if not the cultural one.
A great deal is down to psychology
and the power of suggestion."