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This has gone from funny to frustrating.
The people who need to hear this literally don't fucking care and will just ignore it.
It doesn't matter how many Christians are caught grooming and diddling little kids, they'll keep blaming it on trans people anyway and keep getting away with it anyway because it's a fucking cult that has rejected anything that isn't GroupThink.
Repeating "but were they a drag queen" in our little echo chambers is surely cathartic, but in the end, it's still an uphill battle against these fucking religious freaks, because they don't care what is true and what isn't. We should have been aware of how little they cared about the truth when they decided Sky Daddy was speaking to them in tongues. Should have been the first fucking clue these asshats aren't living in fucking reality. They were primed by religion to reject anything outside of the cult.
Oh! This is the thing I've been reading about, with how people change their minds.
It turns out that for everyone, belief is partly to largely social. The brain values in-group membership and security much like how it values physical security. When you say something to someone that threatens their group security, the brain reacts similarly to if a bear had just walked into the room. There's no cool analyzing of facts.
So you have someone who's anti-trans and hangs out with their anti-trans church, and that's a big part of their community. That's their friends, family, and support. They get together, sing songs, and trash talk trans folks. Now, you come up to them and say "Hey, trans folks are people like anyone else and don't deserve to be treated badly." You're an outsider. The brain looks at this like siding with you risks being ejected from the safety of the group to be eaten by wolves. That's uncomfortable. So they make up excuses to resolve this. You're a liar. You're wrong. You don't know what you're talking about. You don't understand it's about protecting children. This is an exception that doesn't prove anything. It was a false flag operation. Excuses. Excuses to protect group membership and resolve cognitive dissonance.
People are complex and hold many memberships simultaneously. This person belongs to a church, but they also have a family, and they may be in a political party, and a sports team. And the church may belong to a larger group like Christianity more generally.
One of the ways to get people to change their mind is to appeal to another group they're a member of. Like, you probably can't get a republican to recycle by appealing to environmentalism. Republicans have gone hard on the environment doesn't matter. But you could probably make progress if you appealed to american exceptionalism. Only America can turn trash into treasure! That might appeal. That doesn't make them feel like they're clashing with a group.
This is also how stuff like qanon hook into people. Being part of the group feels good, and getting people to look at facts is going to be an uphill battle when it means risking that membership. And that's on top of the whole "most people don't want to admit fault"
Anyway. I digress. The specifics of christianity are a problem, but none of this is really unique to it. We should probably be spending more effort dismantling hate groups and such, though. And maybe building groups that aren't centered on hate and xenophobia.
Excellently written, and I agree deeply with the conclusion. Sometimes certain major religions make me so mad that it's hard to see the forest for the trees, but I know what you say is correct, as I've read similar ideas on belief and its connection with social connections. Zizek for example has written a great deal on belief and how its important/shapes us/we all experience it.
Also, secondarily, I guess "Not All Religions." Every religion is imperfect, but not all of them are rooted in fear of death and promises of eternal life. Hinduism and Buddhism for example are complex religions of their own that don't come in the Abrahamic Religion Package.
However...
I agree with all of these, but how do we even address that the religions that do specifically have a problem are some of the most widely believed religions on the planet? I know we need to be dismantling hate groups, but how do we dismantle those ones, because I hate to say it, their history is where a large part of the cycle of abuse in human society comes from. These specific religions do teach things like Christianity's "turn the other cheek" that demand submissiveness from their members. I really do think those major religions are the root of abusive behavior because it's so ingrained in the religions and these religions have so much history. It literally impacts the majority of the world.
It's really hard, because like... I know a fella in Jordan who, when he lived in the US, admitted to me he thought he might be atheist. Eventually, he went back home to Jordan. I think about when he said that, a lot. It's literally a dangerous thing for him to admit in Jordan. It's not like they will kill him or anything, but he could lose his job, certain types of property, be divorced from his wife by the state, be denied any and all inheritances, and custody of his children. That's the government saying to all the citizens of Jordan that they'll try to ruin your life if you admit atheism. What a way to kill all doubt in a believers mind, eh?
I appreciate this perspective, but it feels like not even treading water when we're talking about dismantling hate groups, as if some religious institutions aren't purpose-built to facilitate becoming hate groups.
That’s great! I know a much better way to change the minds of hateful fascists, though!
It works permanently and goes at about 762 meters per second.
For a second I thought you were describing your fist and I was like what kind of mutant is this??
More seriously, while that has merits I think there's also merit in addressing the top of the funnel. We should also be considering ways of reaching people earlier, before they're in a spot where fascism appeals.