If you’re a Christian, I’m guessing you know that it’s time for you to leave your religion. The same if you’re a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Taoist. It’s time to move into the modern world, to own up to your reservations, and to put comforting superstitions behind you.
And you know exactly what would happen if you were to do that, don’t you? Your loving brothers and sisters, so very religious, so very loving, would vilify you, pillory you, shun you, and hate you. Wouldn’t they? You know that, right beneath the surface, they are authoritarian by nature. Isn’t that true?
Why do evangelical Christians, to take one religious group, love an authoritarian like ex-President Trump so much? It’s really very simple to understand, once you understand the extent to which authoritarians are attracted to religion and appreciate the cover that religion provides. The religious are attracted to a Trump because they are authoritarian followers by nature who are looking for, and keen to follow, some authoritarian leader. And who better than Trump to fill that bill?
Research has consistently linked religiosity with authoritarianism. Few findings are as robust or as consistently replicated. For instance, the psychologists Hunsberger and Laurier in their research article “Religion and Prejudice: The Role of Religious Fundamentalism, Quest, and Right-Wing Authoritarianism” (in The Journal of Social Issues) explained:
Does religion contribute to, or inhibit, prejudice? Although major world religions espouse tolerance and love toward others, empirical evidence provides little support for the effectiveness of such religious teachings, and a considerable body of research suggests that religion and prejudice are positively correlated.
Maybe you would like to leave your religion but, just out of conscious awareness, you know that to do so would get you vilified. If that’s the case, it may be time for you to make that half-conscious understanding fully conscious. It may be time to say out loud, “Okay, my brothers and sisters in religion are going to turn on me the second I say that I am leaving. Let me get ready for that. Let me have no illusions that it will be otherwise.”
Can friends turn into enemies just like that? Yes, they can, they do, and they will. Religious followers are not friendly, open, and forgiving and will not give you a nice fruit basket as a parting gift.
They will throw stones—with looks, glances and words, if not with actual rocks. That is the nature of the religious, and always has been. And that is why you are leaving.
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