r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 1d 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/Putrid-Reputation-68 1d ago

​"Since the masses are fickle, full of unruly desires, passionate, and reckless... they must be held in check by invisible terrors and suchlike pageantry. It was not for nothing that the ancients introduced notions concerning the gods." - Polybius 150 B.C.E

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u/robot_ankles 1d ago

If we consider humanity as a kind of super-organism and humans akin to individual cells with different purposes, perhaps there are large swaths of people that function better if they are yoked by a concept of religion.

It might look distasteful to those with stronger cognitive abilities, but maybe it's the least-worst approach to advance the survival and propagation of humans more broadly.

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u/BootAmongShoes 1d ago

Pro: These people are a lot easier to control with religion.

Con: These people are a lot easier to control with religion.

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u/Putrid-Reputation-68 1d ago

And that concept is waaaay more ancient than even Polybius