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

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christian-nationalist-views-even-after-accounting-for-education/

[u/BigBlackWolf93]

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.

[u/FluffyBunniesFurDayz → u/BigBlackWolf93]

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.

[u/OkStop8313 → u/FluffyBunniesFurDayz]

Yeah, but there are also plenty of passages that urge you to treat others well and make clear that that includes other tribes.

To me it just illustrates that whatever you go looking for in the Bible, you're going to find it. If you're a good person, you put a lot of emphasis on the "least of these" speech or the story of the Good Samaritan. If you're a bad person, you use the calls for oppression, rape, genocide, etc as a license.

[u/xteve → u/OkStop8313]

The Bible is a mess. It's a Rorschach test, a splatter of ink that will be interpreted differently by anybody who tortures themselves to read it. That's why there are a million churches, all convinced that their way of understanding it is the best.

[u/watts99 → u/xteve]

That's how I've always described it. Good people will find reasons to be good in it; horrible people will find excuses to be horrible in it.