Are Fundamentalists Advantaged in Disruption/Decline?

[Yagon]

Imagine the scenario:

Large Scale economic transformation is occurring, the working and middle class are in decline, and there is pronounced social schism. Due to a combination of public anger and external destabilizing interference, the central government is paralyzed.

During this interval, the human tendency for community results in a progressively greater and eventually in some areas total reliance on a self-formed local organization.

In such or similar instances, do people with strong cultural cohesion and uniformity that come with fundamentalist religious beliefs have a temporary advantage from their pre-existing group structure (the religion)?

Saying "We all worship the _____ and praise the name of ____________" is sort like saying "we're all on the same side and believe the same shit and we're a group and will look after one another". Would that make them stronger during periods of disruption/decline?

[Cetacea]

Yes

Reliances on ones numbers is always an advantage to reliance on a distant impersonal government, that becomes even more pronounced during times of crisis when access to the basics of food, shelter and security means direct reliance on the people around you.

[Yagon]

Yes

Reliances on ones numbers is always an advantage to reliance on a distant impersonal government, that becomes even more pronounced during times of crisis when access to the basics of food, shelter and security means direct reliance on the people around you.

Are "the people around you" more effectively unified as a group if they share a common and intense religious outlook? (I would naturally think there would be may other factors as well, of course, I'm looking at if and how much an advantage my emerge for those who all seem themselves as Followers/Children of ____________)

[Cetacea]

Yes

Reliances on ones numbers is always an advantage to reliance on a distant impersonal government, that becomes even more pronounced during times of crisis when access to the basics of food, shelter and security means direct reliance on the people around you.

Are "the people around you" more effectively unified as a group if they share a common and intense religious outlook? (I would naturally think there would be may other factors as well, of course, I'm looking at if and how much an advantage my emerge for those who all seem themselves as Followers/Children of ____________)

yes, common bonds create greater sense of affinity between members,and it is only within religion that humans have developed the whole culture of "social obligation as moral imperative" and all the ritual that goes with the memes of "Love thy neighbour", "Charity is a virtue", "God is Love". I don't think its necessary to have 'god' in the mix per se, but it is the structure of a religious group that creates the advantage.

No doubt the same structure and moral imperative is possible without the appeal to a higher entity and It is perhaps seen in tribal structures, with the 'ancestral culture' acting as the cynosure around which the familial connection is formed

[Yagon]

yes, common bonds create greater sense of affinity between members,and it is only within religion that humans have developed the whole culture of "social obligation as moral imperative" and all the ritual that goes with the memes of "Love thy neighbour", "Charity is a virtue", "God is Love". I don't think its necessary to have 'god' in the mix per se, but it is the structure of a religious group that creates the advantage.

No doubt the same structure and moral imperative is possible without the appeal to a higher entity and It is perhaps seen in tribal structures, with the 'ancestral culture' acting as the cynosure around which the familial connection is formed

Seems reasonable, thank you.

It would be interesting to see in some far off future, a group formed around something that would seem odd to us (like the descendants of a Brony colony or Trekkers or Game of Thrones fans or something).