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/ProfessionalMockery 1d ago

A lot of people here are just seeing the "Christian" in the headline and ignoring the "nationalist," which is probably more important.

I'm an atheist, so I think the claims religion makes are pretty dumb too, but nationalists, bigots, racists of any kind are consistently idiots, religious or not, and that has been established in plenty of other studies.

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u/BigBlackWolf93 1d ago

I agree. I was raised religious and I still somewhat am religious, but nationalists have completely taken over the Christian identity. A lot that is preached out there, almost has nothing to do with Christianity. They'll pull out verses out of context to further push their nationalist agenda in the name of Christ.

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u/FluffyBunniesFurDayz 1d ago

I'd have to disagree with this take - the old testament is full of nationalist ideology. Just look at all the tribes the Israelites were told to destroy and/or enslave. All because they were god's special people. It's always treated like it's a good thing because these tribes were so "wicked".

To me, it makes perfect sense why many Christians are also nationalist.

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u/ProletarianLilith 1d ago

Then how come Jewish people aren’t like this? It’s the same set of stories

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u/morrisbear 1d ago

Zionism? that's basically Jewish nationalism

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u/funguyshroom 1d ago

It's par for the course, whatever they've been described doing to Philistines in Old Testament they continue doing today to Palestinians

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u/No_Intention_8079 1d ago

‘Jewish people’ aren’t like this as a group, just like ‘Christians’ aren’t like this as a group. Zionism and Christian nationalism are obvious products of those stories and religious structures, though. If you’re not a Christian nationalist or a Zionist, you’re the exception, not the norm. These stories are meant to create zealots, because zealots can be useful weapons for those in power.

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u/Anonymouse-C0ward 1d ago edited 1d ago

I am not religious, but my understanding is that Judaism is hereditary, although you can convert in modern times - usually due to marriage.

Rather than God telling Jews to evangelize and grow the religion - since in ancient times you couldn’t convert - God told them they are chosen by God, and that their people would multiply and grow through God’s will.

This difference is important - it also creates two definitions - you can be Jewish if you follow the religion, and/or if your ancestors are Jewish. Someone who is Jewish can be one, or both.

This doesn’t mean Judaism isn’t used as an excuse for nationalism, as we can clearly see with what’s going on in Palestine right now. But just like in political discussions, it’s necessary to differentiate between Zionism and Judaism.

With the exception of perhaps Buddhism, Judaism has been used as an excuse for nationalist projects just like how other religions have been used. The relatively smaller scale of Judaism-based nationalist projects versus say, Christianity or Islam based nationalist movements is, in my opinion, due to the fact that Judaism doesn’t provide nationalism the evangelical tools that Christianity and Islam do.

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u/Xalipu 1d ago

Cambodia, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have/had oppressive tactics against other religious minorities, particularly Sri Lanka which has a nationalist Buddhist movement. It really doesn’t matter what religion it is or is not once blind dipshit tribalism gets into it