As the article pointed out, "if members of a team felt a common social identity with their leader then surveillance in fact reduced the leader's influence by fostering resentment and distrust. However, if they saw their leader as belonging to a social outgroup then surveillance increased the leader's power."

In your anecdote, do the religious people see themselves as being in the same social group as the president or other powerful members of government?

To start, does the list of religious people you've talked include many non-Christians?