Excellent article: Inherited Religiosity: What it means for how nost 'Believers' believe

by AndersonsInfo 18 Replies latest jw friends

  • steve2
    steve2

    Excellent question jgnat.

    Ineffective parenting is usually characterized by expecting your kids to do more of what doesn't work. There is a kind of mindlessly soothing mantra in automatically repeating unhelpful ideas because to explore helpful ideas would be too disruptive of the "accepted order" of things.

    Besides, if you know your kids are highly likely to stray, you don't necessarily welcome that inevitability; instead, you fill their growing minds with lots of emotional-blackmail crap so that when the chips are down in life (as happens to the best of humans), the little dears will come running back to a half-existence in the hall.

    As a kid, I saw the "condition" under which some of the chastened younger ones came back: They looked miserable, awkward, resentful that they hadn't made it independently and resigned to never straying far from the JW orbit. Stories abound of some poor born-ins getting disfellowshipped 2, 3 or more times. That's a hell of a tortured way to get through life.

    In any other context it's called "learned helplessness".

  • Hairtrigger
    Hairtrigger

    In certain ethnicities, there is yet another emergening phenomenon regarding religion. An 18 year old girl was heard telling someone " I don't want to be a churchgoer because my family is. I want a different religion. I think I'm going to choose Buddhism because it is a cool religion." When asked for details she mentioned her aunt was a buddhist and she had found her to be a very pious person; with apleasant smelling house, full of incense burning etc. No doubt the aunt must have exerted a massive influence in indoctrinating her with that religions' philosophy, but the aspect of behavior I'm concerned with the illusory "freedom of choice " addendum that accompanies it. To a certain mindset, the idea is synonymous with the simple experience of buying a car.

  • Hairtrigger
    Hairtrigger

    "emerging" sorry about the typo

  • steve2
    steve2

    Hairtrigger, are you saying Buddhism's the same as Christianity in that regard?

    If so, cool.

    I've known young people mesmerized by all the hip Christians at college and got caught up in their clap-happy dancing services, yet knowing f all about doctrine. Vulnerability to religious persuasion is common to all religious groups in all places, regardless of assumed "pedigree".

  • Hairtrigger
    Hairtrigger

    steve2. What I was trying to get at is that there is a trending attitude regards religion ( any- depending on one's taste) for some, which is more a fashion statement rather than a deep rooted conviction based on certain beliefs.( rational or otherwise).

  • Vidiot
    Vidiot

    Hairtrigger - "...more a fashion statement..."

    LOL!

    The Peace symbol is the new Crucifix, the Star of David is all the rage in Paris, and the Ankh is so last Wednesday...

  • BU2B
    BU2B
    And that is why I believe it immoral to impose  religion on impressionable minds.  The logical mind is bypassed at that age, sometimes for life.  Great article, thanks!
  • done4good
    done4good

    Good article.

    It has a lot to do with personality types, also. Guardian types, (a broad MBTI category that includes ISTJs, ESFJs, etc.), make up about 40% of the population, (the largest broad category). These types have a natural tendency, (more than most), to uphold traditions, including the religion of their parents. They tend not to be the best independent thinkers by nature, and are likely the least negatively affected by cognitive dissonance, (so they don't really feel the pressure to fix any mental conflict). These are the types it typically takes a personal event to rock their world hard enough to make them "think"...

    Not sure if this is good or bad news, but likely is reality.

    d4g

  • Fernando
    Fernando

    Great article. Thanks for sharing and bumping.

    Yup, I was a third generation born-in, and yet somehow I was conned into believing I was thinking and reasoning for myself and that members of other religions were not.

    Of course I only now know what thinking and reasoning for myself look like.

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