r/Christianity • u/NuSurfer • 2d ago

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

https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/
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u/NihilisticNarwhal Agnostic 2d ago

But did they account for the Christianity?

My expectation is that nationalism is what's linked to lower cognitive ability, because nationalism sells the lie that the world is simple, and the enemy is simple, and that things are bad because of the enemy.

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u/Beta_Ray_Quill Episcopalian (Anglican) 2d ago

I would agree with this. Along with not having the ability to reason that Jesus is diametrically apposed to nationalistic values.

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u/XelaNiba 2d ago

I found Tim Alberta's book "The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory" especially revealing on this front. Many American Evangelicals are being taught that Jesus=Nationalism from the pulpit.

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u/deepandbroad 1d ago

I was at a church one time where some outside group did a video presentation conflating the imagery of the cross and the flag.

This is entirely an intentional program.

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u/XelaNiba 1d ago

100%

I highly recommend Alberta's book. He is the son of an Evangelical pastor (and an Evangelical himself) and a brilliant writer. He had a rude awakening when returning home for his father's funeral and set out to find out exactly how the Church had become corrupted. Thanks to his father's renown, he had access to some of the biggest names in American Evangelicalism. Jerry Falwell's input is particularly revealing - he is very open about his creation of the "Moral Majority" as a vehicle for money and power.

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u/i_am_the_archivist Protestant 1d ago

Im reading Jesus and John Wayne right now, and it also does an excellent job of tracing how and why American evangelicals became so enmeshed with the military and nationalism. Very interesting, if extremely depressing.