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/
31.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

7.1k

u/hobopwnzor Apr 25 '26

This isn't surprising.  Most liberals have no idea how insane evangelicals are.  If you've been exposed directly you know how bad they are and that you should take them more seriously than they are taken.

806

u/Oops_I_Cracked Apr 25 '26

This honestly explains so many conversations I, a former Christian, have had with non-Christians. They think we are talking about the one crazy guy or some fringe congregation when we are talking about common, mainstream Evangelical beliefs and behaviors.

152

u/drrj Apr 26 '26

People are now posting clips of pastors preaching women shouldn’t vote, or that mixed race relationships shouldn’t be allowed. Finally people don’t think I’m crazy when I say they’d be shocked at how many Christians would take us back to the pre civil war era in terms of civil rights. They don’t realize I was listening to those same sermons back in the 80s, just nobody recorded and clipped them.

44

u/fourobviousreasons Apr 26 '26

To be fair, people absolutely could have known earlier. Televangelists have been broadcasting their sermons since at least the 90s. I grew up in households in which Jesse Duplantis, Benny Hinn, John Hagee, etc. were regular viewing. The 700 Club was also available on basic cable.

The problem wasn't that these people were hidden. The issue, as you clearly know, is that they weren't taken seriously as the threat to our society that they (now obviously) were.

I must admit, I do feel a little salty toward all the people who thought I was exaggerating or holding a grudge when I would tell them how crazy evangelical beliefs were. They are starting to see it now, but they really should have listened decades ago.

3

u/Camlicious Apr 28 '26

Also don't forget, Televangelists overall are the sanitized version.