The Religious Right Should Meet the Cerebral Left
November 6th 2008 02:38
There are certain things in my religion that offend me almost to the point of making me physically ill. But I get the feeling that they aren't relegated to my religion alone. The ability that people have to turn their brains into the "off" mode just because a man with a pulpit says so tends to grate on me from time to time (though luckily I haven't noticed any at church for awhile, which could mean one of two things, either that they stopped doing it or I stopped noticing it) and that they manage to take something amazing and turn it to crap.
For example, the recent election in the states we were "blessed" with the ramblings of those that decided that in McCain resided the hopes of all good christian Americans and that Barack Obama's heart was darker than his skin. I'm not saying that it was religion alone that helped turn their brains off, but unfortunately, it may have been a factor. In 1953 Solomon Asch performed what was called The Asch Conformity Experiment or otherwise known as the Asch Paradigm. Wikipedia entry here. Or you can read the Cracked version here which is a good deal funnier and actually has more info. Anyways, the theory is that people generally follow the herd out of some kind of instinct. People nod because other people are nodding. People agree with what people are saying because other people are agreeing. Environments such as churches, schools, corporations etc can all make use of this effect quite easily. All you need are a few shills among the crowd in order to steer the atmosphere your way. After that, it's easy.
I am, as I have said before, against the unification of church and state. I am almost completely against it. As Chesterton said, the most fearsome of governments all ended their declarations with "thus saith the Lord" and that was that. As Dostoyevsky's Ivan Karamazov explained it to merge church and state meant that a criminal could be punished by the state by being sent to jail, but the church would continue to welcome him. But if the church and state were the same thing then any criminal is also an apostate, a heretic, and would find no refuge no matter where he turned.
A person is a wonderful thing. Man is a rational creature with irrational instinct and intuitive reasoning. But people tend to react like a mob. The easiest way to find the intelligence of a person is to give a quick IQ test. The fastest and most reliable way of finding the IQ of a mob is to take the person with the highest IQ in the mob and then divide that number by the amount of people that form the mob.
JZ
For example, the recent election in the states we were "blessed" with the ramblings of those that decided that in McCain resided the hopes of all good christian Americans and that Barack Obama's heart was darker than his skin. I'm not saying that it was religion alone that helped turn their brains off, but unfortunately, it may have been a factor. In 1953 Solomon Asch performed what was called The Asch Conformity Experiment or otherwise known as the Asch Paradigm. Wikipedia entry here. Or you can read the Cracked version here which is a good deal funnier and actually has more info. Anyways, the theory is that people generally follow the herd out of some kind of instinct. People nod because other people are nodding. People agree with what people are saying because other people are agreeing. Environments such as churches, schools, corporations etc can all make use of this effect quite easily. All you need are a few shills among the crowd in order to steer the atmosphere your way. After that, it's easy.
I am, as I have said before, against the unification of church and state. I am almost completely against it. As Chesterton said, the most fearsome of governments all ended their declarations with "thus saith the Lord" and that was that. As Dostoyevsky's Ivan Karamazov explained it to merge church and state meant that a criminal could be punished by the state by being sent to jail, but the church would continue to welcome him. But if the church and state were the same thing then any criminal is also an apostate, a heretic, and would find no refuge no matter where he turned.
A person is a wonderful thing. Man is a rational creature with irrational instinct and intuitive reasoning. But people tend to react like a mob. The easiest way to find the intelligence of a person is to give a quick IQ test. The fastest and most reliable way of finding the IQ of a mob is to take the person with the highest IQ in the mob and then divide that number by the amount of people that form the mob.
JZ
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Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
I've said it before that I'm not at all religious, but I have no problem with others who embrace a particular faith. If it adds meaning in any way to your life, then fantastic.
But one of my biggest issues with religious folks, especially in blogging land, is that many push religion as almost an entity that will do your thinking for you. Is someone good or bad? Well don't judge them on their character, judge them on whether they believe in the same god as you. Faith should never be a substitute for people using their minds and exploring their world.
I really enjoyed this post.
Kylie
Comment by Davin T
Amazing how easy it is to find people using Google!
Looks like you have become quite a formidable writer of stuff.
You can also find me on facebook.
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
thanks. Um...... Thanks alot.
In the words of Neal Stephenson "God gave us brains and told us to use them." Unfortunately people sometimes forget this. It's irritating when they do.
I'm glad you liked it, I'm going to come at it from the opposite direction in my next post.....
JZ
Comment by JoshZ
A Simple Christian
it's good to hear from you.
I wouldn't say that I'm formidable. Not yet. One day.
JZ