Why are most religious people so easy to manipulate? (serious)
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This the book with the extended author self-gratifying torture sex scene in the middle that has almost nothing to do with the story?
The author who went on about people being stupid when the entire plot hinges on the fact that the main character was forced to memorize a book for like, no reason, at the beginning?
The world with a tribe of "uneducated savages" who are saved by white man ingenuity, because, despite living in an area with heavy rainfall, they never thought of making roofs that don't leak?
The obvious self-insert main character who escapes being forced to breed with said savages by convincing them his jizz is poison?
Oh, so that means people are smart and never believe lies??
Go away
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Oh, so that means people are smart and never believe lies??
Go away
You sound like someone who thinks Terry Goodkind is poignant.
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
Another related question: Why are people seemingly more inclined to become more religious as they age?
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There is also a selection bias at play here. I suspect that people who are more susceptible to manipulation are more likely to be religious.
Religion also includes a pretty horrific indoctrination program in children, ensuring that most of them remain uneducated and pliable enough to be manipulated for the rest of their lives by the church.
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Another related question: Why are people seemingly more inclined to become more religious as they age?
wrote last edited by [email protected]I know people actually become slightly less conservative as they age, on average, but society in most Western places has moved socially left over time, so they seem conservative now. I'm guessing some of that is also true of religiousness.
Having to stare down your mortality and insignificance might be part of it. Young people tend to just avoid big picture questions because it's easy to pretend they can. Now, of course there's atheist answers to those big picture questions, but as far as I know committed atheists are always outnumbered by agnostics.
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I think it's because religions, cults, sports teams or whatever have community. Community comes with shared identities and beliefs. Nobody wants to be outcasted or shunned. So you follow along. Your friends are there, your family is there ... they all believe the same thing.
Yes, and groupthinks incorporating spirituality and a doctrine that threatens damnation for violations of the rules (including questioning them, sometimes) have just proven very persistent and effective.
I'd add conspiracy communities to the list, including some prominent on Lemmy.
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This the book with the extended author self-gratifying torture sex scene in the middle that has almost nothing to do with the story?
The author who went on about people being stupid when the entire plot hinges on the fact that the main character was forced to memorize a book for like, no reason, at the beginning?
The world with a tribe of "uneducated savages" who are saved by white man ingenuity, because, despite living in an area with heavy rainfall, they never thought of making roofs that don't leak?
The obvious self-insert main character who escapes being forced to breed with said savages by convincing them his jizz is poison?
I misread the original quote as being from Terry Pratchett and as I was reading your comment I was like "No way in hell, what is this guy talking about?".
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I think maybe you have it backwards people who are easily swayed/trusting of authority/gullible are going to be naturally drawn toward religion. Skeptics/those who don’t take things at face value are going to be naturally skeptical of it.
Religion doesn’t make you stupid but it’s very attractive to the sort
The flip side of that is manipulators are going to gravitate toward religion as a easy way to get what they want from the suckers.
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
I have the opposite perception - that people become in fact more conservative and buying into conspiracy theories more readily as they age.
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
Their entire worldview depends on blindly believing things that don't make sense and are unverifiable
They are trained from a very young age to accept anything an authority tells them.
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
wrote last edited by [email protected]I mean they believe there's a man in the sky that they don't see who controls everything. Then that big man speaks through the pastor and this pastor interprets this book for them to hear. Everything good or bad is part of some divine plan. Then the whole thing is wrapped around the idea of wholehearted faith.
All throughout history, religious leaders plant themselves as a way to control people and power over them. See Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas.
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
wrote last edited by [email protected]I don't know about across the pond, but to me that always seemed to be a loud minority of charismatic leaders gathering big flocks. Which the rest of The Church tries to distance itself from.
I think this isn't specifically tied to religion. It's just it's noticeable when it is. People are manipulated by governments and the media all of the time. It even happens in largely secular states as well.
You say evangelicals, but there's also the likes of Mormons, Seventh day Adventists (not really a big cult now as it used to be), Jehovah's Witnesses. There are Sunni extremists and Shia extremists in Islamic countries. China had weird cults as well such as the Falun Gong. But that also had an atheistic movement in the cultural revolution. Nazi Germany's movement was borderline pagan in nature.
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And not just without proof, but to ignore proof if you see it!
Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.And
Proverbs 28:26
26 Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe.wrote last edited by [email protected]I think what proverbs is saying is less about evidence and moreso about following your heart and being arrogant.
John 20:25-28 ESV
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
Yourlve got the cause and effect backwards there big shoots.
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
They were conditioned to growing up. Their parents taught them to, they saw how the ingroup and the outgroups work and settled on the ingroup. Not much more to it than that i'm afraid.
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Fittiest just means most adaptable to their environment.
No, it means most fit for the environment. If the environment changes, a species can become less fit to the point of dying off. Adaptability just means the species is more likely to stay "fit".
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Survival of the Fittest isn't failing, it just doesn't follow what you'd like to be "fittest". If a person is more reproductively successful because they're religious, guess what, that makes them "fittest". It really doesn't matter if it's stupid and illogical, just that it succeeds.
No, because that's not fit to the environment as in actual living space environment. Humans have largely removed themselves from the natural environment, so we are no longer nearly as subject to survival of the fittest in the way it's meant to apply to a changing species ala darwinism.
Besides, Idiocracy like behavior only further proves my point, it doesn't prove the environment is magically different.
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I misread the original quote as being from Terry Pratchett and as I was reading your comment I was like "No way in hell, what is this guy talking about?".
Good heavens, no. Terry Pratchett is more than capable of nuance, subtext, and a love for his characters that goes beyond propping up his own fantasy.
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I'm watching Apocalypse in the Tropics documentary on Netflix about evangelicals and politics in Brazil and it's mind boggling. Why do the religious people just blindly do whatever the pastors tell them?
when you believe one outlandish thing, it's easy to be convinced of others. On top of that one of the main tools religions have is fear. Make people believe in some horrible fate, then convince them the only way to avoid that fate is through doing exactly as you say.
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Another related question: Why are people seemingly more inclined to become more religious as they age?
fear of death?
