Research: "How religion generates social conservatism."

[laconicsax]

You could make a reasonable case that pencils have a purpose, but pencil shavings just exist. But what about elephants? Religious people and children are, of course, more likely than non-religious adults to say that animals exist for a purpose.

But what about men and women? Black people and whites? Rich and poor? Arab and Jew? Do these exist for a purpose? And is it possible for one to become another? Gil Diesdendruck and Lital Haber of Bar-Ilan University in Israel decided to find out what children think.

...

There were big differences between the two groups, shown in the figure here. Orthodox kids were much more likely to say that Arabs and Jews exist for a specific purpose, as do blacks and whites and, revealingly, rich and poor.

In other words, they think that all these types exist because they have a specific role to play, usually mandated by god. You can see here the seed of adult-life social conservatism.

http://bhascience.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-religion-generates-social.html

[fascisthunter]

1. fascinating

[libodem]

2. Very interesting

and relates a little to something I've been thinking about. Which is loosely about public school vs homeschooling and religion vs science and why people like Dr. Laura use her bully-pulpit to curse public school and advocate only religious private school or home school. She wants kids to be brainwashed into being conservatives. No science, no exposure to any different cultures or ideas. It really bugs me. Glad to read the article. Makes sense.

[EFerrari]

3. The author almost makes something explicit that is very important, imo:

"In other words, if you teach kids creationism - not just about animals, but about people - you train them to think that they have a specific purpose (in the same way that secular kids think about artefacts such as pencils, tables and chairs).

It's no wonder, then, that they grow up to be social conservatives - fearing women and gay rights, accepting wide differences in social equality, and reinforcing the ethnic schisms within society."

Creationism is dehumanizing.

[laconicsax]

4. I suspect that it goes beyond that.

I'd love to see research into whether religion leads to greater acceptance of authoritarian principles.

[EFerrari]

6. Right. If you teach that people are pre-purposed objects,

you are teaching both 1)obedience and 2)bigotry. That's pretty efficient!

[Kip Humphrey]

5. If you believe in a Supreme Being:

A. You place absolute authority outside yourself, and thereby relinquish some degree of personal responsibility to another outside influence.
B. You must necessarily suspend disbelief to some degree, opening up your mind-model of reality to the introduction of externally imposed mindsets and determinations.

Abdication to an outside authority, wholesale acceptance of what external authority dictates, suspending disbelief, and blindly adopting authoritative determinations are key characteristics that make up conservatives, especially Republicans and career military (i.e., those that join and self-identify with strongly hierarchical organizations). That's why conservatives so readily mimic what they are told to say and think while progressive humanists tend to argue among themselves incessantly arriving at differing conclusions and reaching common agreement only through extensive and deliberate compromise.