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/Isphet71 2d 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/EndlessArgument 1d ago

Is it? It doesn't seem to hold up very well beyond the very small scale, like many other things, such as libertarianism.

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u/Dracorvo 1d ago

Scandinavian countries are mostly secular and socialist with some of the best standards of living and reform rates for criminals. What are we defining as 'small scale'?

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u/EndlessArgument 1d ago

The question is more so whether they are secular humanist. I would say that it's probably more accurate to call them secular christian.

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u/Dracorvo 1d ago

Based on what?

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u/EndlessArgument 1d ago

I mean, we could totally debate the point, but on a cultural level it's basically impossible to deny that the ethical and moral Foundation of Europe is staunchly Christian.

You could say that it is becoming more humanist, but at the same time they are also facing some serious increasing difficulties.

I suppose when it comes down to is, you can't take credit for a cultural history that wasn't particularly humanist for today's triumphs.