ABSTRACT
Some clinical data have substantiated direct correlations between divine relations, social relations, and individual and social well-being. One of the relatively negative and more restrictive pressures that religions impose on individuals is an imperative to conform to established beliefs and practices, as well as to conventional standards of behavior. Case studies of religions give useful examples of individual and social consequences of being brainwashed rather than having opportunities to exercise choices. Self can be thought of as the center or core of individual being. Self is synonymous with moral agency, and as such is the decision maker and mover of individuals’ actions. Identity consolidates the strongest and deepest meanings of values that the self selects from religion or secular sources, and generates impulses to action. Religions can be important baselines for strengthening identities, although some religious orientations, such as fundamentalism, may severely limit individual freedom.
