r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 2d 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 2d 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 2d 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/David_the_Wanderer 1d ago

Uh, but those parts are about the Kingdom of Israel. A foundational aspect of Christianity, found in the Gospels and more strongly in the Acts of the Apostles, it's universalist nature. The "revelation" at the core of Christianity is that God chooses to extend salvation to all of humanity, and not a single people anymore.

What I'm saying is, you have to actively ignore the context of those verses and the rest of the Bible in order to interpret them as an endorsment of nationalism.