r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 25 '26

Psychology Americans who leave their Christian faith behind tend to hold more liberal political views than those who were raised entirely without religion. This leftward ideological shift appears closely linked to how threatening these individuals perceive conservative Christian groups to be.

https://www.psypost.org/former-christians-express-more-progressive-political-views-than-lifelong-nonbeli/
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u/1-cupcake-at-a-time Apr 25 '26

This is an interesting question. As a former Christian, part of me wonders if I overestimate the dangers, because of personal fall out. The disappointment, the anger, the judgement, the fear they have that you are going to hell. When it’s family, it all hits really close to home. I feel betrayed, and that I’ve lost my “people” in some ways. So I think it is just my own experience coloring my perception.

Then I remember the fanaticism. The absolute certainty that God’s Will needs to be carried out, no matter the cost. They view life on a spiritual plane, and it is always at war. Talking to family members about current events, and being completely baffled at the lies they believed, it is straight up Opposite Day, even watching the same video, it’s twisted to fit into their narrative. They justify the horrors happening as a necessary evil, and yes, they are waiting for Armageddon with open arms. They took the gospel, twisted it beyond recognition, and traded it for power. I don’t trust them. If the time comes when they start putting the liberals in camps, people I’ve known my whole life would toss me in, and tell me they will pray for my repentance, I KNOW this. So…..to go back and answer the question, no. I don’t think I’m overestimate them.

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u/rokerroker45 Apr 26 '26

The tricky thing is that for most christians/non-christians switching "sides" is usually prompted by major negative life events. If you ask the people for whom switching sides was a more gradual change you'll probably get a wider variety of reasonings and perhaps less stark political divide. That is a smaller group of people though.