When Faith Makes Reality Optional
How Evangelical Christianity Trains People to Ignore What They See
Before I could tie my shoes, I was taught that boys and men had one less rib than I did. God used one of Adam’s ribs to create Eve, and we had proof in modern times. My dad had one less rib than my mom.
It sounded like a hopeful reason to believe. It sounded good, exactly what you would expect if the creation story of Adam and Eve were true.
Except it’s not true.
Women and men have the same number of ribs.
When I was in grade school, I learned that dinosaur fossils were a trick from Satan. The devil hid dinosaur bones around the world to lure Christians away from creationism while seducing them into believing in evolution.
That’s not true either.
I was still playing with Barbies when I learned that researchers dug a hole so deep in China that they heard terrifying screams of hell. Apparently, there were cassette tapes of the screams.
Also not true.
I was learning the alphabet when I was told about the rapture. Any day now, God was going to snatch up all the “true believers” in the blink of an eye, leaving all the sinners to suffer in a world of torture, violence, disaster, and famine.
The message was very clear: don’t get left behind.
Believe.
Obey.
Your family could get taken, and you might be left to die with the atheists.
Except that’s not true either.
I could go on and on about all the lies I was told throughout my life in Evangelical Christianity. Sadly, I believed most, if not all of them, for 29 years. It’s too scary not to. It’s dangerous to question. I didn’t want to burn.
It’s not an easy path to come out of the fog, to see clearly all the ways you’ve been lied to and manipulated. It’s bittersweet. On one hand, your mind is liberated and you’re finally allowed to tell yourself the truth. On the other hand, if you try to tell others, they meet you with more lies and more fog. The gaslighting continues, except now the smoke is visible.
It’s no surprise that a religion that does not rely on evidence to support its belief system produces a political cult that does not rely on evidence to support its belief system.
This is why I can watch the video of Renée Nicole Good being murdered in broad daylight by the American Gestapo, while a Christian conservative can watch the same video, frame by frame, and come away with a completely different conclusion.
To them, the officer was run over by her vehicle.
To them, she was trying to run him over.
To them, he couldn’t move out of the way.
To them, her wheels weren’t turned away from the officer.
To them, her murder was justified.
To them, he never walked away with a skip in his step and is now recovering from major injuries in the hospital.
It’s maddening to witness. What video are they watching?
Yet it’s helpful to understand how their religion shaped their critical thinking abilities, or the lack of them. They were not taught critical thinking skills. They were taught to obey the official narrative. Don’t ask questions. Do not lean on your own understanding.
When something doesn’t add up, the cognitive dissonance is so uncomfortable that the default response is to gaslight oneself in order to remain within the acceptable narrative.
I know this because I used to gaslight myself in order to believe what I was supposed to believe.
Religions such as Evangelical Christianity are very useful for fascist leaders. The congregation has already been primed to obey authoritarian rule.
Believe.
Obey.
Don’t ask questions.
If you encounter someone who doesn’t believe what you do, they are the enemy. They are working for Satan.
They are the domestic terrorist.
Comply or die.
Believe or burn.
Once you are trained to distrust your own perception, reality becomes negotiable.
And when reality is negotiable, cruelty can always be justified.
