Yes this is all true too. I've seen it all first hand, including the power (and wholesomeness) of deep family bonds built around church. Even more so when it's a whole community where you feel like you become family. I think religious groups are one of the few social structures that actually recreate the homogeneous "clans" that our evolved bodies and minds crave, because for so much history they meant safety and flourishing.

Going against the group is a kind of 'suicide'. Not just socially but as a learned instinct of a very real consequence - just like you said. Going against your clan almost certainly means being isolated and cut off and on a deep level we're terrified of that.