When I was 19, I read The God Delusion with great enthusiasm. Then I finished growing up. There should be no doubt that most people select their faith because of their politics and ethics; they don't select their politics because of their faith. - ThreadSky

quinnae.com • 45 days ago

When I was 19, I read The God Delusion with great enthusiasm. Then I finished growing up.

There should be no doubt that most people select their faith because of their politics and ethics; they don't select their politics because of their faith.

Reposted from ellie lockhart (she/they)

Evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity is *also really bad and destructive* and has more power, because of numbers, than stupid atheists and I’m not disputing that

But that’s not “religion” and yes, I’ve heard all of the arguments to the contrary and they’re wrong.

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buckrawheat.bsky.social•45 days ago

High minded religious philosophy rarely survives contact with whatever tribalist shit is already in the water. True of populations and individuals.

bdowney.bsky.social•45 days ago

Wait: I grew up in the South, and most people stayed in the church they were raised in, and the politics that infested those churches infected those people. I watched the drip, drip, drip of right wing ideology using religion as a front infection entire congregations that used to be FDR Democrats.

bdowney.bsky.social•45 days ago

This is not an argument about the specifics of Christian theology and doctrines; more about how the structure of evangelical Christianity was vulnerable to being parasitized by racists on the right and the minds entrusted to their care were made vulnerable.

berenexia.website•45 days ago

i also grew up in the south and i’ve reached the unfortunate conclusion that the causality goes both ways: people choose (or stay in) these religious settings because it provides a controlled social structure that soothes their authoritarian/ patriarchal/ racist tendencies

berenexia.website•45 days ago

like. they are adults with agency and responsibility for their choices

bdowney.bsky.social•45 days ago

For sure, but we could say that about social media or Fox news viewers too. Both of those had some real impact on a shift in our politics over time.

I just think a lot of Protestant churches in the South became a marketing arm of far right thinking, and it exploited the trust there.

bdowney.bsky.social•45 days ago

Concordantly, most people stay in the religion they were born into in the US.

78% in 1998, 70% in 2018:

https://prlicari.medium.com/how-many-change-or-leave-their-religion-as-they-grow-up-780487e0c347

bdowney.bsky.social•45 days ago

For sure it's some of that, but ... the economic turn of these congregations is super wild. I came from a town of literal fisherman and laborers in that church. Would they have fallen in love with the Republican party without the message coming from the church?

bdowney.bsky.social•45 days ago

I also watched Satanic Panic thinking spread through 'prayer chains' at these churches.

I just think the churches have some of the heft of social media today, and equally unprepared minds plugged together leaving them vulnerable to (sometimes literal) abuse.

ellenteapot.ca•45 days ago

Extremely relatable arc tbh

quinnae.com•45 days ago

Religion is not an idiot-ball that makes people magically believe things they otherwise wouldn't. As the ugly criticism of Bishop Budde demonstrates, plenty of people's faith is determined by what they *prefer* to believe politically. And we need to come to terms with that.

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