God agrees with me, and so does my congregation

[mellowtigger]

Whether the occasion of life is heaven or hell for you probably depends on which social strata you inhabit. Not to fret, though, because you always have God on your side to help you in your struggle (to climb up, or to keep others down).

As it turns out, God likes and dislikes the same people that you do. Interesting coincidence, eh? Researchers

Comments

[pi3832]

In other words, the religious moral compass (liberal or conservative) merely points us where we're already facing. Our deity tends to agree with us, whatever it is that we believe. Using a sports metaphor, our deity is more of a mascot than a coach.

That's not necessarily true. The results could merely indicate that people do, in fact, shift their moral compass to match the presumed one of their deity. Chicken'n'egg kinda 'fing.

Though, on a related note, there is the tale of Carlton Pearson and his "Gospel of Inclusion". So, yeah, having lots of people to damn to hell does seem to be central to evangelical Christianity--and probably most dualistic religions.

[mellowtigger]

Yes, I agree. It's also worthwhile to consider the strong influence of self-sorting, where people search for a congregation that suits them. (Translation: find a crowd in which your beliefs already fit in.)

I would very much like to see results from the same brain scan study which first surveys people on their specific beliefs and then challenges them to ponder the rationale of God in various declarations which either support or contradict their own beliefs. Ask the liberals about the fire-and-brimstone passages, then ask the conservatives about the love-your-neighbor passages. Why would God say such things? I bet we'd see differences of Self versus Other reasoning in their brains as they try to consider God's opinion on these matters.