loyalty to the institution
Karen Armstrong, the author of A History of God and The Battle for God has written a thoughtful and challenging article about the dangers of institutionalism in religion and the way that it takes us away from our core values:
The religions are all committed to the quest for truth, however uncomfortable. They also insist upon repentance, atonement and the conversion of life. They speak above all of compassion, which in every major world faith is the litmus test of any true spirituality or ideology. It is only when a religion has become debased that it speaks of loyalty to the institution as a supreme value.
Jung, I believe, once said that a great deal of religious practice seemed designed precisely to prevent people from having a truly religious experience. All idolatry is a retreat from God. The religious quest cannot begin until we see things as they really are. We cannot function effectively while trapped in enervating structures of denial, and a church that ignores the suffering of those it has injured in order to shore up its own authority has lost its way. There can be no healing for either the church or its victims unless the hierarchy learns once again to speak the truth that sets us free.
She cites examples from the Catholic church, Anglican Church, Judaism and Islam about the dangers of cover-ups and reluctance to admit failure and mistakes in religion. Worth a read.