Social Growth along with Religion and Propaganda -- A response to Christopher Villa

I recently read Christopher’s post entitled “Does Religion Retard or Promote Social Growth?” It is a well-written post that begins to address the very beginnings of the issue and explains that religion in fact does both. I would like to focus in this blog on how religion promotes social growth by expanding upon Christopher’s argument and drawing parallels to another large force in social change—propaganda.
In his blog Christopher states that “religion contributes to the formation of social groups by providing common guidelines/norms the members can unite under. These norms, which in many cases have underlying moral premises, contribute to the formation of common ways of life.” This is a good summary, and it explains how a group of people can have similar mental framework allowing them to agree on the need for change. I think it is important to highlight the fact that social change is promoted as a result of similar ideals and beliefs. When people generally believe the same things, they are more likely to agree with each other on societal change, because they can relate it to their beliefs.
A very interesting parallel to this concept is that of propaganda. Many times propaganda is used with negative connotation, as its power has been exploited to do evil in the past, but propaganda is most often used to maintain peace and order in society. The best personal example I have of this is the teaching of democratic ideals at a very young age. I was a student in the public school system of Appleton, and remember learning in elementary school about democracy and the freedom it provides for American citizens. In retrospect I realize that it was completely subjective education. Very little was ever taught about other governmental systems which instilled in me a strong belief in the fundamental principles of democracy. I can only imagine it had the same effect on my classmates as well. I have realized that this propaganda for democracy is essential to maintain a stable government. It aligns Americans’ beliefs in a way which promotes the stability of the government.
One can then see that effects of propaganda are similar to those of religion in that they align the beliefs of their audience. As Christopher suggested this is what inevitably leads to social change. I discussed in my previous blog “Evolution (both biological and religious) leads to Stronger Identity,” the power of mixing secular and religious mediums to control large masses of people. Parallels between religion and propaganda lead me to suggest that the same might be true for social change. Perhaps using secular propaganda techniques in combination with religion is the most powerful way to affect change in a society.