"Psychology and Religion" How is psychology present in religion? How might some dangerous behavior be linked with religious beliefs? Is religion useful or detrimental to society?

I find religion to be a fascinating subject. I think that there are many psychological aspects to all religions. This research paper is about relationships between religion and psychology and some of religion's therefore-potential dangers. William James, former President of the American Psychological Association was interested in religious phenomena and attempted to understand religious phenomena experienced on the individual level. He wrote a series of lectures which came to be known as The Varieties of …

…feelings and bad things happen because they truly believe that the actions which would be seen by society as vile, seem like the right thing to do. It is with this experience-based understanding and that of everyone else who's paying attention to the world around them, that I make the this point: Taken to extremes, in the hands of and oppressive leader, or taken-up by psychologically unbalanced persons, religion itself can be a serious risk.