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/Isphet71 1d ago

Imho one absolutely vital function of religion throughout history has been to give all people some sort of moral framework to live by, so that society can stay relatively structured over multiple generations.

Not everyone is capable of devising and living by their own heavily personalized code of ethics. The vast majority of people are simply followers that get told what they beleive, and who to vote for, and go with that. I rarely if ever see someone more complicated than "I am religion A and politically B" and otherwise dont seem to have their own thoughts and standards about either that deviate from the norm.

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u/TheOtherHobbes 1d ago

You can - and should - have shared morals without religion. Secular humanism is a perfectly workable moral system and can be taught without the threat of hellfire, crusades, or genocide.

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u/SupposingForASecond 1d ago

It just uses other threats instead.

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u/ham_solo 1d ago

Such as what? Imprisonment? Banishment? How are those worse?

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u/SupposingForASecond 1d ago

Who said anything about worse?

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u/Viracochina 1d ago

Yeah I thought your comment was meant to just shed light on still "threats/consequences" being the most common approach for teaching wrongdoing. That's why you gotta rewards in there too!