Moral convictions can be so deeply felt that they enable us to oppose authority, ignore pressures to comply, and even break the law. When we feel that something is morally wrong, we are less susceptible to external influence, and more willing to take a stand for our beliefs. Such convictions can give us strength and the motivation to defy. But unexamined, such convictions can be dangerous. If the only belief that matters to us is our own subjective sense of what is right and wrong, we lose tolerance for different opinions, and our convictions can drive us to commit acts that instigate
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