Closed-minded Communities

In every community, there's a good side and a bad side. Some communities have a more apparent bad side and some communities have a more apparent good side, but every community has pros and cons of some sort. I know for a fact that religious communities can form especially strong bonds but I also know for a fact that they can form unfathomable rifts. The collective passion of a people can be strong enough to bring a variety of personalities together but can also be strong enough to split like minded people apart. Some communities derived from religions have closed minded teachings and produce closed minded people as a result. Since the members of a community often don't venture out of their comfort zones, communities can often create misconceptions. 

A classic example of this is the Christianity vs Atheism debate that has always been an issue, especially online. The most common argument against Christians is that they are unwilling to accept scientific facts and logic. I have to say that this is a very valid assertion, I have noticed many hard headed pious people. However, this is certainly not the only aspect of Christianity. I know several devout followers who have recognized the multi-faceted nature of religion and philosophy and have carefully weighed truths against myths. Atheists seem to have the misconception that Christians are all dim-witted sheep because of what they've heard from other nonbelievers. Christians are also guilty of hating on Atheists based on common views found in church. This isn't just an issue with religion, however. Close-mindedness in communities can be found just about anywhere.

Take sports for example. I have no interest in watching sports (not even tennis) but even I can see how important they are to human relations. Different communities of people gather regularly to root for one team or another, sometimes getting so involved that they start fights and quarrel over the superiority of their preferred team. I've basically only talked about the bad side of communities in this post, since everyone already should know of the good side of communities, I won't bother rambling on.