The perspectives offered by Kristin Kobes DuMez (2021) are consistent in some aspects with the challenges both of us experienced. In her book “Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation” DuMez notes that “White evangelicals are significantly more authoritarian than other religious groups”. White evangelicals embody “a nostalgic commitment to rugged, aggressive, militant white masculinity” she notes. Her writing aligns with what KW experienced. We would add to this description that evangelical Christians overlap in values and beliefs significantly with conservative thinkers.
For example, in The Gospel of Climate Skepticism: Why Evangelical Christians Oppose Action on Climate Change, Robin Veldman (2019) notes that evangelical Christians, like conservative thinkers, are more likely to align their beliefs amongst their in-group as opposed to critically analyzing scientific data. As Veldman suggest, “being a part of the evangelical community is showing that you keep good theologically conservative company (i.e. stay close to your in-group’s thinking no matter what), and environmentalism is associated with being liberal” or aligned with an outgroup, and that is unacceptable. This description contrasts with that of a community consisting of independent and critical thinkers who step back from in-group thinking and more critically considers scientific evidence being reported, whether that be climate change, Covid vaccines or QAnon theories.
The experiences that the second of us [WB} had while growing up are directly aligned with Veldman’s description of the dynamics operating in an evangelical community. There is no room in Christian Science for divergent thought. The Sunday presentations are prescribed and have never changed since they were dictated by Mary Baker Eddy more than a century ago. There is a specific interpretation of Biblical passages that never varies and Eddy’s Science and Health is ”Gospel”. It conveys the absolute truth. There is no room in this church for contemporary scientific findings. It is truly remarkable that very little has changed in the Christian Science church after more than a century of new scientific discoveries and major breakthroughs in medicine. Like many Evangelical churches, Christian Science is essentially a closed system that leaves few openings for the “reality” of 21st Century life (let along the 19th Century and 20th Century!).
Cognitive load
Conditions of greater stress, such as the need to make time-pressured decisions, produces what psychologists call Cognitive Load. Those working in the field of behavioral economics (Kahneman, 2011; Ariely, 2008) offer many examples of our reduced capacity to engage in various cognitive functions (such as memorizing, problem-solving, and thinking in a logical manner) when we are stressed. Our prefrontal cortex that is responsible for most cognitive functioning is easily overloaded when barraged with many stressful challenges. Control is returned to other regions of the brain. We become fast-thinkers and knee-jerk reactors when stressed out and tired. While there are some intuitive tasks that are best engaged by older regions of the brain (Lehrer, 2009), it is often not good for us to revert to the more primitive processes and abandon the slow thinking that occurs in the prefrontal regions of our brain.
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