To grow is to make changes in life to reduce cognitive dissonance. I'd also assert that the more C.D. that a person allows in their life, the easier it is for them to accept/ignore the next, new instance of CD. Cognitive Dissonance, I believe, is one of the fundamental drivers of all human behavior... in that it occurs because of life, and a healthy brain is working both consciously and subconsciously to reduce it at all times.

Good on you!

There is no doubt that in the institutions of the Southern Baptist Convention, the tyranny of the group prevails. Fandamentalistic "true believers" dominate the culture of most Souther Baptist churches. Those true believers use all means at their disposal to force all others in the group to share the same unquestioning beliefs in the evangelical dogma.

If anyone shows any deviance from of questioning of any segment of the dogma, they exert pressure on him or her. The pressure many take the form of sweetly being nice to the person to convince him to come back to the fold. It may also take the form of judging and shaming. If the person does not "shape up", they will either make him or her so uncomfortable that he or she will choose to leave the group, or they eject him from the group

That is cognitive dissonance just as Leon Festinger defined it.

[simplypsychology.org]