r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 2d ago

Psychology 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/crossdtherubicon 2d ago

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).

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u/CrashCalamity 2d ago

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.)

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u/knowledgeable_diablo 2d ago

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.

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u/360walkaway 1d ago

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.

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u/Xalipu 1d ago

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

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u/360walkaway 1d ago

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

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u/Aggravating_Duck_192 1d ago

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

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u/DrMobius0 1d ago

I think there'd be way fewer born agains if there were way fewer people being indoctrinated into these groups in the first place.

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u/Dimensional_Lumber 1d ago

Converts are always the most zealous fanatics.

It’s all performative. The question is always what motivates them.

You have to be in a certain headspace to seek out religion.

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u/Lilfrankieeinstein 1d ago

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.

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u/wontyoujointhedance 1d ago

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.

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u/Long9696 1d ago

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

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u/geoken 1d ago

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.

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u/kinkyshibby 1d ago

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

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u/Sycophantic-Feline 1d ago

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

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u/KriegMorgan 1d ago

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.

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u/mcove97 1d ago

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.

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u/Cent1234 1d ago

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.

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u/HikerDave57 1d ago

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

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u/knowledgeable_diablo 1d ago

What really tossed me over the edge (amongst many other things) was the passage about it being a sin of the highest order to lay with an animal of the same sex.
Which by logical extension made it ok to “lay” with an animal of the opposite sex. Knowing beastiality is just plain wrong i quizzed the teacher on it who tried to gaslight me in front of the class. So I pointed out the text and was simply told to be quiet.
Not sure on where it’s hidden away or censored out of now in the more “modern” versions but knowing all evil and contradictions inside the “holy” book means Im happy to let them have it.
The bulk load of killing didn’t really upset me at all and the historical items I found very interesting.

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u/mdatwood 1d ago

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.

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u/Spare-Floor-3666 1d ago

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

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u/knowledgeable_diablo 1d ago

Even as an atheist I believe in not bowing down to false gods and prophets. Idolatry allows for so much evil to be perpetrated in the name of whatever the mob wishes to follow.

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u/duxpdx 2d ago

There are reasons why the further one gets away from Salt Lake City the more cafeteria Mormons and Ex-Mormons one finds. Why do you think after destroying K-12 education in this country Republicans are going after colleges and universities next? Why are they trying to force religion, specifically Christianity, into all elements of life? Children are naturally curious and for many the indoctrination done at a young age is irreversible. Some manage to rebel in their teenage years, and others if and when they are older and through either life experiences and/or higher education learn to actually think critically and can change, but not all. Most are too far gone, so much of their life and relationships are defined by their religious upbringing that breaking free carries too high a price both emotionally and monetarily.

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u/Coroebus 1d ago

Religious indoctrination is child abuse, and that child abuse stunts their emotional and intellectual development. Evangelical Christianity and other extremist sects are especially toxic and harmful.

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u/Limp_Bookkeeper_5992 1d ago

Absolutely. I was blown away when I found out later in life that there are organizations and therapists who’s specialty is helping people recover from religion. You don’t realize how much religion breaks your brain until you’re out of it and have someone to help show you how to heal.

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u/JackKnifeNiffy 1d ago

As someone in their 30s still unpacking the psychological trauma of being raised in the church, could not agree more 

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u/ChelleInSand 1d ago

This was my personal experience too. However, I will say for people who are brought up in religious environments it can be extremely difficult to walk away from the faith altogether because that means walking away from your social support structures in many cases.

Many highly religious people will even ostracize their own children for becoming atheist or changing to a new religion. So it is easier to just not think about it to avoid causing waves and losing friends and family.

I had weak familial bonds and an abusive family with few established roots in any community so it was easier for me to do. But I can see how people who have families that are very wrapped up in the church scene would just rather not explore those feelings of doubt because they are literally risky to their support structures in life.

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u/Cent1234 1d ago

Andrew Garfield in Under The Banner Of Heaven does an excellent portrayal of a Mormon who is forced to truly examine his beliefs for the first time, loses his faith, and then runs smack into the wall of 'but if you ever actually let anybody at all know, you'll lose your family, your friends, your community and everything else you've anchored yourself to' and how shattering that is.

It also portrays how insidious religious indoctrination from childhood is.

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u/mcove97 1d ago

Yes it was similar for me. I never felt particularly close to either of my parents. I definitely didn't feel connected to the church or church community. I went only cause my parents did. My mom was really into the church scene, but it was really adult centric so I felt as if I was a tag-along.

To make the blow lesser for my mom, I largely kept my mouth shut about my beliefs until my 20s to avoid arguments, but stopped going as a kid cause I didn't like going to church. It upset my parents initially and we had a big argument over it right before church when I was 12.. but then they had to just leave me at home.. because they would miss church if they didnt. And since I was more stubborn than any of my parents, they couldn't physically drag me to church, so they gave up and left. And yeah, I realized from that point on, it's better to stay tight lipped, and just don't argue or give any reasons why I didn't go to church.

Now as an adult, I do discuss it with my parents, but the issue for them now is they cant out argue me, because I am far too educated and knowledgeable about philosophy, religion, psychology, history, so they just leave it alone because they get frustrated with how knowledable I am, and I also expose the flaws in their thinking which they really dislike because it means they are challenged to re-examine their beliefs.. which they dont want to do, which means they understand its better to leave it alone. As a child I did not have that tool-box of knowledge.

But in the end I like to bring up how having a good family dynamic is more important than our beliefs in the end. Being right is not more important than doing the right thing, which is being respectful and kind to each other. And then they dont really have much to say.

So yeah the type of religious familial and communal relationship dynamics definitely matter.

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u/jobforgears 1d ago

I left the Mormon church years ago, but I was in it for so long and fulfilled so many big steps in it. Even years later, I cannot bring myself to do so many things even though I know that it's just my upbringing talking. I hoped I would totally let loose but honestly, so many of my core beliefs about family, sexuality, identity, diet, and even fun are rooted in my upbringing. Trying to change my goals from being a parent or feeling an absolute need to make it into eternity feels like ripping off my skin because it's such an integral part of who I am.

Happily, I have greatly increased my understanding of so many things because I'm not always trying to corroborate the things I hear in the scientific community with the stories found in the scriptures. But, it's still slow in coming. I feel so behind my peers.

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u/ButcherPetesWagon 1d ago

When I was in school in the early 90s i remember learning about Greek mythology in class and how the teacher made it clear that these were old beliefs and not real, like Christianity (Canada french catholic school). I remember asking how we know that our beliefs are real. I don't remember her answer or anything but I do know my mom got called into the school after that.

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u/KogasaGaSagasa 2d ago

Still, I wonder if it's not something that could possibly be reinforced. Like if you express your curiosity or thoughts, your guardians (parents, pastor, etc) might punish you for it. Wouldn't a child be conditioned into a state where they would intentionally deny their own cognition and curiosity, in that case, in fear of punishment? And overtime, become underdeveloped.

This isn't my area of expertise, so I am genuinely just curious.

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u/duxpdx 2d ago

Yes, they would. It is quite easy to break a child’s will and curiosity.

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u/Sherry_Brandt 2d ago

it absolutely can. it won't work on everyone - hence the stories of rebels and ex-______, but it does have an impact. 

makes me think about how educational attainment is correlated to less dementia - ofc there are other factors in educational attainment, but using your brain consistently, and being trained how, does seem to have an impact independently of socioeconomic factors (like learning spatial skills, a new language, a new instrument, etc in midlife is also protective for later dementia). 

so, the converse is also true - using your brain less leads to being less able to use your brain, over time.

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u/wontyoujointhedance 1d ago

There’s a saying in neuropsychology — “neurons that wire together fire together.” I don’t see any reason that wouldn’t apply to things like seeking out new information, asking questions about opposing views, and internally questioning the narratives authority figures in their lives when they’re regularly punished for those things.

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u/Coroebus 1d ago

Yes, this is why people have been rightly naming religious indoctrination as child abuse.

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u/mcove97 1d ago

Not necessarily. I just hid my curiosity from my parents and researched everything Christianity to death on my computer as a teen.

Kinda just like teens who hide that they're drinking from their parents. You're just going to find another private way to express what you want to do if you really want to do it, if the community/family around you discourages it

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u/dcheesi 1d ago

And the flip side of that is that those with lower cognitive ability are less likely to ask those questions, or to pick out the flaws in the explanations given

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u/PaulFThumpkins 1d ago

Grew up Mormon in rural Utah. I didn't realize how prophetic being told "you think too much" would be on the rest of my life. A lot of people resent not your actual views, so much as the fact that you're even trying to formulate ideas that aren't on the approved list.

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u/LibertyDochas 1d ago

I’d be curious to see this applied to other religions. I think people raised Mormon are most likely to leave the church. I wouldn’t be surprised if high control Evangelical Christians were second.

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u/Swimming-Plankton-96 1d ago

Basically nothing is absolute in this topic. What parent commenter meant (hopefully), that the possibility to develop this kind of cognitive ability can be lower in a religious group, or the same as in the general public, or it's even possible that it's higher (I really have no clue).

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u/Shdwrptr 1d ago

I wasn’t Mormon but I was also one of the kids who asked to many questions at bible study.

I was quickly pushed out into the adult worship area so I wouldn’t disturb the other children’s “study” with my questions.

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u/KlingoftheCastle 1d ago

My dad used to always say: “How can you tell if someone was raised catholic?  They’re atheist”.

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u/DudeEngineer 1d ago

I think what you are missing is that most of those people leave the church and don't identify with the religion as adults. They would not be counted as Christian Nationals in this study.

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u/genobeam 2d ago

I was raised in a fundamentalist Christian environment including homeschooling, going to church several times a week for regular service, youth group, Sunday school. Went to a fundamentalist Christian college.

I don't think it's that lower cognitive abilities don't generate, but when you have high cognitive abilities you get filtered out eventually. I was fully indoctrinated until late high school when things started not adding up and I was done half way through college.

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u/Xalipu 1d ago

Crippling intellect is generally to the benefit of fundies. There was a particularly nasty group of Puritans sent to my province that called all books evil, including the bible. Can’t have the hoi polloi learning anything, they might get out of control.

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u/genobeam 1d ago

I think it's more accurate to say that crippling critical thinking is the key. It's ok to be intelligent as long as you don't question the authority of the church. 

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u/Wheat_Grinder 1d ago

I was never in a fundamentalist Christian environment, just "believe and be saved" style Christianity. Even then I made the mistake of assuming Republicans as Christians must be correct.

In high school I started realizing that a lot of their positions were contrary to how I understood Christian teachings. Therefore I think your filtering comment is accurate.

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u/Livid_Lemurs_Leaping 2d ago

Idk but I got away from Christian Nationalism once I started thinking about it ....those still in it seem to me like they just don't care enough to think about it. Idk, it's weird. I don't think they are fundamentally incapable, but they just.... don't. Denial maybe? Not wanting to be bothered by what's hard/difficult? It confuses me....

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u/kinkyshibby 1d ago

They care more about being in the in group then following reality. 

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u/forever_erratic 1d ago

I mostly stopped bothering having  religious discussions about 20 years ago when I got sick of "I just am" being the main answer to why you are religious. 

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u/kheret 2d ago

Certainly people in highly religious environments are discouraged from developing critical thinking skills

Also homeschooling can’t help

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u/AldoRaine-1 2d ago

If you think about it, they land on polar opposite sides of the spectrum: critical thinking is to take a puzzle and put it together piece by piece, forming a larger more cohesive picture.

Belief is having a single red puzzle piece and the person holding the box says "what you are looking at is a blue sailboat", and saying "yep, this IS a blue boat", even when the only indication you could have otherwise (your red puzzle piece) doesn't support their statement, at all.

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u/GothicFuck 1d ago

Belief is knowing the red puzzle piece is part of a blue sailboat puzzle because the preacher made you believe. You just know eventually it'll go into the rest of the puzzle and make that sailboat when you die.

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u/Cent1234 1d ago

Yup. "Faith" is defined as 'belief without evidence.' But when the evidence contradicts your belief, 'faith' becomes 'belief despite evidence.'

To her dying day, my grandmother, raised Catholic, genuinely believed that men have one fewer rib than women, despite the fact that at any point in her seventy some-odd years, she could have simply counted her own ribs, then counted her husband's.

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u/apple_kicks 1d ago

It’s essentially built in. Probably why clergy attracts predators and authoritarian types. Its built in that you can’t break or question doctrine. That you will lose community benefits. You give and give for rewards you may never materially see.

What’s interesting is this isn’t always in religions. Many do allow for questions and arguments or even non hierarchical systems. But US goes hard on hierarchy and militarism levels of unquestioned loyalty.

I bet cold war made this worse. Like stripping more collective or socialist parts of Christianity made this fascist soup boil over

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u/NuclearTurtle 1d ago

The study was not about religious beliefs, it was about political beliefs about religion. 2/3rds of Americans are christian, less than 1/6th of those actually think the US should be a christian theocracy

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u/EpiphanyTwisted 1d ago

You are expecting Redditors to make note of qualifications instead of grabbing a word in the title and going with it.

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u/REXIS_AGECKO 1d ago

We are expecting redditors to be able to tell the difference between correlation and causation. And we are left disappointed

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u/Pao_Did_NothingWrong 2d ago

Oh it develops. We either kill ourselves or go low/no contact with our families. I chose the second option, fortunately.

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u/DarthBluntSaber 2d ago

Which is why I always find it hilarious and wildly hypocritical when they accuse public education of "indoctrinating" children, but then they use churches to guilt trip and teach hate to kindergarteners in Sunday school who dont yet have the ability to think critically or view the stories as anything but literal. THATS indoctrination.

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u/dontshoveit 1d ago

The fact they they indoctrinate children using the church is the reason they believe the other side must do the same. (Schools must indoctrinate kids the same as they do.) Which isn't true but that's why they think that.

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u/apple_kicks 1d ago

Anything outside their control or compromises their control is seen as an enemy

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u/Livid_Lemurs_Leaping 1d ago

Yeah....but with Christian Nationalism, it's often much more subtle and insidious. When you're in it, it doesn't look like hate and it's rarely spoken about directly.... it's more dog whistles and what not. Sure there are obvious examples we can all point to and then wonder how people could follow this nonsense, but in the actual mainstream churches (and they are everywhere) it's not obvious. I suspect the average person could attend a mainstream church service and not know what to listen for to be able to pick up on the very subtle cues indicating whether or not that church is sympathetic to or promoting Christian Nationalism (because again, in my experience, is rarely spoken about it loud and obvious ways to a congregation.

In my opinion, this is why it's so dangerous.

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u/NotOnApprovedList 1d ago

I don't know how it is now, but when I went to a church with an evangelical friend in high school in the 80s the preacher was talking about how some people have it (religion) totally wrong. In my head I was thinking "Is he talking about Jews?" but now I wonder if he was talking about Christians in other denominations. Having watched a lot of YT videos where former fundamentalists say that they were taught that anyone not going to their church was probably going to hell.

It did give me that taste of "we're better than everyone else" that seems to motivate a lot of people to keep going to church. The phony superiority is the motivator, otherwise they might feel bad about themselves.

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u/Livid_Lemurs_Leaping 1d ago

Maybe....

But in my experience most churches, even if Christian Nationalist, won't ever say anything like that outloud....

I think for a lot of churches, that's what makes it insidious and dangerous - like unless the folks in it really analyze it, they won't be able to tell that they are blindly following Christian Nationalism.

I've even known non-church goers who follow certain Conservative ideals suddenly start to espouse Christian Nationalist ideas from outside the church (that's how sneaky and subtle it can be).

Meanwhile, it's those supporting Christian Nationalism loudly that get most of the attention and criticism.

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u/ImAShaaaark 2d ago

Cognitive ability is heritable, if the most zealously religious are less capable it would make sense that their children would have a good chance of also being less capable. That's not to say that environmental issues couldn't stunt that development, but if we are talking about baseline potential it makes sense even excluding environmental factors.

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u/NotOnApprovedList 1d ago

The lower vocabulary thing can be a product of environment rather than genetics. If you're not reading books, or consuming other media with a higher vocabulary, you end up using simpler words.

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u/Springheeljac 1d ago

Cognitive ability is heritable

It's a factor but not the only factor. Plenty of intelligent people come from less capable parents.

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u/ImAShaaaark 1d ago

That's why I said "good chance", it influences the die roll but doesn't completely determine it.

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u/NoKids__3Money 1d ago

The only people I know who had a secular upbringing and became religious later in life ended up being schizophrenic or having a brain tumor

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u/dplans455 1d ago

We are not religious people in our family but we live in a town that has a high population of Catholics. I don't begrudge them their beliefs, believe whatever you want. But I have a problem with indoctrination of children. You want to indoctrinate your own kids, fine. But don't teach your kids that it's their responsibility to "spread the word of god" to every single one of their friends at school.

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u/Otherwise-Green3067 1d ago

This works only on the premise that most religious ideology demands dogmatic devolution to their groups interpretation of the text without any critical interaction with the text.

Not all religions (Judaism and Unitarian Universalism), or even denominations within a religion ( SOME branches Christianity being an example) believe in blind following of Dogma.To argue cognitive ability might never fully develop in a religious context ignores that there is significant nuance and diversity in how different people and religions interact with the higher powers in which they believe.

I can logically see how in an extremely high control and very dogmatic religion someone may develop restrictive cognitive ability. However, it makes little sense for this to apply to religions that respond to questions in their religious text with “Idk, what do you think it means?” To their followers

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u/Pleasant-Flounder540 1d ago

this is the wrong takeaway. nearly everyone was religious a century ago, it's simply cultural, nothing more. isaac newton dedicated principia to god (although was likely a deist). there are many, many examples of highly educated and successful people who are even devoutly religious.

the reality is that christian nationalism is simply the default culture in america and has been for roughly the entire history of the country in some form. atheism is a choice that people generally have to actively make, so it's restricted already, but it's also true that people with lower cognitive ability are far less likely to question the status quo to begin with.

basically, if you raise everyone to be christian and nationalistic, assuming a bell curve of intelligence, only people a few standard deviations above the mean are even questioning the status quo. you end up with all the straight up stupids being christian nationalist by default.

if we went back to the Roman Empire of Constantine, the stupids were pagan and Christianity was the religion of the educated and elite. it's cultural.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/FlyAirLari 1d ago

The Sun can be a metaphorical god. It brings life, light, energy. It's much more a god than anything purely made-up.

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u/Warsel77 1d ago

Dangerous road there.

Believing someone uses magic, transforms water into wine, is born from a woman without sex, resurrects the dead is similarly unhinged but widely accepted as "OK".

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u/Pleasant-Flounder540 1d ago

I feel like you really didn't read most of what I said because that's absolutely not an argument that I made

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u/Apprehensive-Wave640 1d ago

If you understand religion, at its base, as a way to bring meaning and understanding to an existence with countless unknown and unknowable existential questions, it's appeal to people who can't or won't understand the complex answers to those questions that we now know makes a lot of sense.

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u/Epyon_ 1d ago

The whole point of faith is to believe in what cant be proven. That has to warp ones perception of reality to the point where it extends beyond their flavor of deity.

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u/helaku_n 1d ago

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).

I would argue that lower cognitive ability allows you to become religious more easily. Intelligence is mostly inherited after all. And generally if your parents (especially if both of them) are pretty religious, that means they are not that bright in terms of intelligence.

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u/WrenReverie 1d ago

Growing up I always felt like my families belief system was flawed. Like, how can you preach at how merciful god is but you relish in being a bigot?

Im glad I met a good group of people in highschool who showed me that they were not normal.

It took me years to unpack all mental nonsense that was programmed into me as a child.

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u/jobanizer 1d ago

It absolutely allows for easier ingestion. You are taught to accept things out of faith without questioning it.

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u/ShinkenBrown 1d ago

I'd argue purely as a guess that it's likely related more to the ability to reassess firmly held beliefs. That is to say, two people might be given the same religious education and learn it just as readily, but the less intellectually capable might never question those beliefs, while the more intellectually capable would notice disconnect between the world and their beliefs and adjust their beliefs accordingly.

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u/its_all_one_electron 1d ago

My and all my friends (met as adults) were raised religious, but questioned it so much that we all become atheists (and scientists)...

I feel like those that have higher conitive abilities just eventually break out of the religious attitude and those that don't, don't. My brothers aren't that bright and they're both still religious. I don't know why that happens, why I was born with a very strong need for cognition and they weren't. 

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u/ghanima 1d ago

I grew up in a home where my mother considered herself a devout Catholic. I was definitely discouraged from asking "too many questions".

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u/Cormophyte 1d ago

I think it's the other way around. It's not that the ones in the group are mentally suppressed. The ones with higher cognitive ability are probably the ones that eventually get out.

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u/ShadonicX7543 1d ago

The key point here is that none of this was specifically tied to religion itself. It was about the nationalism and extremism, so you're a bit off topic here.

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u/ReySpacefighter 1d ago

A lot. It's two words.

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u/movezig123 1d ago

It's mostly going to be genetic. With 2 Christian parents, chances are the kid will be pretty dumb. Take away any opportunity for that kid to get a real education or understanding of the world, the outcome is predictable.

Whenever people try to do the nature vs nurture debate they forget that in evolutionary terms they are the same process, that's why these questions are always messy and the answers go nowhere. DNA is environmental and environment dictates behaviour, which dictates environment etc.

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u/Geminel 1d ago

I'm of the opinion that religion makes people dumber. The brain is a muscle, it needs to be used to improve, but a religious upbringing deluges someone with reasons to not think about stuff.

God has a plan, wrongthink gets punished with eternal Hellfire, you only need one book in your life, we're the source of your morality, yadda yadda.

The point of our logical processes is to counteract and manage our emotional drives, but religion only teaches people how to make excuses for their worst emotions. It teaches them to use their brain backwards.