>And I still don't understand why this is the case. If a rager
>can be "certain" (in character) that his worldview is
>"correct", then part of role-playing his "good" alignment
>should be to act altruistically on behalf of Thera and
>Therans.

The thing is, that's absolutely a valid character to play. It's just not necessarily a good character.

Only B-movie villians think they're doing the wrong thing. Just about everyone else, implicitly or explicitly, believes they're doing the right thing. (Or at least, not the wrong thing; they're doing what anyone in their situation would do.)

There are a lot of great roles out there for neutral or even evil characters who fervently believe they're the good guys and doing the right thing, but wouldn't necessarily fit into our "good" alignment.