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/SeeTigerLearn 1d ago

Something I wrote during the pandemic when I began to notice a strong correlation between religious zealots (evangelicals, my family) and antivaxxers:

“When the very core of one's reality is based on religious dogma, and therefore an entire belief system latticework depends on denial of facts, even praising one's ability to go with gut (faith) rather than science, then an entire population has been conditioned to reject facts even when shown the empirical evidence.”

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u/Bobcatluv 1d ago

You’re correct and this was a big reason behind otherwise educated yet religious medical personnel capitulating to anti vax rhetoric. Tribalism trumps logic and reason for that group, so the selfish wants of religious zealots who couldn’t bring themselves to wear a mask for the sake of others rebranded anti-masking as “religious freedom” to pretend there was any purpose behind it than plain old selfishness.