Lower cognitive ability is linked to stronger Christian nationalist views, even after accounting for education

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/

[u/crossdtherubicon]

Alot of religious ideology is ingested through early development and reinforced through the environment. This has been pretty well-documented, although it isn't an exclusive pathway to acquiring religious beliefs.

In light of this article I'm curious if cognitive ability simply never fully develops (or is restricted somehow) in that context. Or if there are also subpopulations wherein a relative lower congitive ability allows for an easier ingestion of religious beliefs (or likewise is perceived as reasonably easier to understand).

[u/CrashCalamity → u/crossdtherubicon]

As a friend to several ex-mormons, I can at least provide counter-example to your first hypothesis. While a highly religious upbringing might not help matters, the emergence of higher cognitive function and critical thought can and does occur. The kids who "ask too many questions during bible study", or those who become exposed to other faiths through college, work, and the internet all start asking themselves how invested they are in their beliefs. It can be especially jarring when they discover how oppressed they were by what is effectively a cult doctrine (as they've told me.)

[u/knowledgeable_diablo → u/CrashCalamity]

That was me in Bible studies as a kiddie. I was one of probably the only person in the room who’d actually read the Bible (teacher included) so I started questioning and asking them uncomfortable questions right from the get go.

Guess that’s what happens when you are raised with no TV and reading is your only outlet and you’re stuck in a religious school.

[u/360walkaway → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

Wonder how many people would believe in their chosen religion if they were first introduced to it when they were a full adult, instead of when they are still Santa Claus eligible.

[u/Xalipu → u/360walkaway]

Do you really want to know how many born again Christians exist, because they’re insufferable

So is pretty much every other adult who converted to something

[u/360walkaway → u/Xalipu]

No I mean if they had NEVER heard of it before.

[u/Aggravating_Duck_192 → u/Xalipu]

Born-again, less the people who converted because of addiction or incarceration. Those situations make people vulnerable to indoctrination at any age.

[u/Lilfrankieeinstein → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

Seems like there’s a type of survivorship bias baked into studies like this where people with higher cognitive abilities are less inclined to hold these values as they grow and learn.

[u/wontyoujointhedance → u/Lilfrankieeinstein]

Well that’s what I think it’s ultimately trying to demonstrate. Those values are typically incompatible with both being smart and a good person.

[u/geoken → u/Lilfrankieeinstein]

I think that part is accepted, but I think it's still an interesting question.

I wonder what effects it has on your cognitive growth to think about concepts like the infinite, the solar system and how nature works in general. I'd think at 3 or 4 years old, most kids either are starting to think about that stuff - or have those lines of inquiry snuffed out and told "it's god doing it with magic".

I'm sure for many kids, the curiosity will overcome anyone telling them not to think about it. But I wonder if for some it doesn't, and for that subset - whether or not it has impact on their cognitive growth.

[u/Long9696 → u/Lilfrankieeinstein]

I have heard that autistic people are less likely to be religous. Not sure if it's scientifically proven or not.

[u/Cent1234 → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

I've always said the best way to turn a Christian to an Athiest is to have them actually read the Bible.

There's a reason all of the major Abrahamic religions evolve a massive EU of supplementary material.

[u/kinkyshibby → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

Asking why and informing the "teachers" the answers they were giving didn't make sense got me kicked out of CCD. And Sunday school.

[u/Sycophantic-Feline → u/kinkyshibby]

I was raised in a nun school and asking genuine questions about stuff I thought didn't make any sense was always met with aggression and punishment.

It's how I figured something was deeply wrong with all of it, I recall it was so annoying to me as a kid/young teen how no one else seemed to question ANY of it, eventually I just had to suck it up and pretend I believed in all that nonsense because it'd also get me into trouble at home

[u/KriegMorgan → u/Sycophantic-Feline]

Narrowly dodged an in school suspension because I did competitive speaking in high school and did a sales pitch for the bible on the merits of it as a piece of entertainment. One of the parent chaperones (re: volunteer student uber) complained to admin about my pitch and I found myself staring down the prospect of having to spend a couple of days sitting in the admin office doing nothing and getting 0's.

I managed to argue my way out of it on the basis that the competitive speaking league wasn't exclusive to just catholic schools and included public schools with the rules specifically excluding proselytizing.

Turns out pointing out how the bible includes so much salacious content like sex and violence makes people cranky when it's all right there for anyone to read.

[u/mcove97 → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

Yeah I questioned it, but kept my questions to myself as a kiddie in fear of upsetting my parents. So when they asked me why I refused to go to church with them when I was 12, I said cause it was boring. Theres no Christian counter argument to that, I knew that. But really it was because everything about church and the Bible felt off. Like confessing being a guilty sinner, when I didnt feel guilty about anything. The whole church thing was just nonsensical to me. I didn't get anything from going. If anything I just became anxious from sitting in church.

And while I was nowhere near as knowledgeable then as I was now. I think maybe my curiosity, combined with my keen eye of observation an quite keen analytical sense is how I bypassed the attempted indoctrination. As a child I would rather observe and analyze situations rather than interact. I would think about the activity, rather than participate in it. And thats how I realized. Hold up? Why are we chanting, singing and confessing that we are guilty sinners? Thats exactly what's making me feel bad. Hence the icky anxiety and uncomfortable restlessness I experienced during sermons that made me want to leave. And thats what I intuitively picked up as a child, even though I didn't have the words to verbalize it well yet.

Honestly, if priests understood psychology, they wouldn't even dream about telling their congregation or audience that they are guilty, because that's just enforcing their audience experiences of guilt, so they keep coming back to church endlessly to be liberated from the guilt the church is inducing into their psyche. It's completely self-defeating and contradictory.

So I also think personality traits is a significant factor.

Having sharp analytical abilities. Curiosity. Valuing truth and freedom over conformity. Thats a sign that someone won't last as a Christian.

On the other side, people who value conformity, group belonging, rituals, a shared sense of belonging. Those will resonate better with being the "sheep or flock of Christ" aka Christian. Contra someone who don't value group conformity over walking their own path alone etc. As a child, I would be just fine not participating in activities and just people watch on the side line how other kids and adults interact and ponder why. Because I wanted to understand social interactions, more than actually participating in them. So, I never was a good candidate for Christianity.

Though I suppose I took the message "seek and you shall find" a bit too seriously. Because that took me seeking outside of Christianity. And its one of the things that I personally don't think Christians do enough. Because seeking to understand something means never-ending questioning.

[u/HikerDave57 → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

I read the Bible maybe age 12 and was appalled by the genocide even though I didn't know the word.

[u/mdatwood → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

I was also that kid. I read the Bible since I was forced to be there and had nothing else to do. I started asking questions and was either told 'because' or asked to leave so they could later talk to my parents. When I hit my teens, I explained to my parents why religion was a farce and I wasn't going to church again. My mom said she was afraid I was going to hell and I said good thing it doesn't exist, and she never brought the topic up again.

[u/Spare-Floor-3666 → u/knowledgeable_diablo]

the true reddit athiest emerges. I bow, humbled before your magnificence and your euphoria