I have in fact never seen a flame war on this topic. I've seen plenty of flame wars over religion, but not actual discussion of the way in which religions operate at a psychological level. Excuse my ignorance. (Yes, I made a quip, but I was in fact broadening the topic. I.e. the basic post is about a limited phenomenon, and there are much larger cases illustrating the same point.)

But I am definitely not alone in making this observation:

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1540,1624