Yes, Alice, et. al, good, reasonable, intelligent people can be and ARE pursuaded and moved towards change by ideas, words, etc. espoused by others. We/they can be drawn into doomsday/other cults, or we/they can be challenged towards good deeds, etc. My balking with your arguement comes with your proposal that we as a society do not need laws for everything, because we can collectively organize and propose that which is moral and good. This is exactly what the religious right does (or thinks it does) to prohibit me from attaining civil rights that heterosexual people take for granted. To me, the moral majority are the panderers, con artists, the no-goodnicks of which you speak. And yet, their words are very influencial on many of their followers...to the point of sending in their live's savings...to the point of brainwashing.

It's not a matter of easy answers here.

Tina