From Charles Guare:

Re: Collective rituals spur support for suicide attacks: researchers (Feb. 19): The article on suicide bombers-church/mosque/synagogue attendance frequency was interesting. It may be that what is being preached at the religious ceremony influences the thinking of those who are overly “devout” so that the frequency of attendance is a strong factor but private prayer is not. The Catholic Church has been using a similar technique for centuries, not for suicide bombers or such, but to convince the overly devout that they should make the sacrifice of their lives to God via service to the priesthood or sisterhood. That kind of thing probably also came into play at the time of the Inquisition to get the Dominicans to engage in vicious and un-Christian behavior. Cultic brainwashing has been around for millennia.