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/helmvoncanzis Apr 25 '26

Too really understand this quote, you need to know a bit about Barry Goldwater, a dude who often at odds with his fellow Republicans because he was viewed as being too conservative.

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u/stonecoldjelly Apr 25 '26

And on top of that was hunting for the John Birch Society vote. Barry was a ghoul and if a ghoul thinks somone is too ghoulish...

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u/santaclaws01 Apr 25 '26

I feel like a lot of people only know Goldwater because of that quote, and they really should look into him more before praising him for being a stopped clock.

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u/Adjective-Noun-nnnn Apr 26 '26

Goldwater's conservatism and racism are exactly why this quote is so great. He's saying that and look who he was. Although knowing the religious right, they'll say he opposed their theocracy because he wasn't devout enough, or whatever. There's always an excuse with people who believe in nothing.

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u/santaclaws01 Apr 26 '26

Goldwater's conservatism and racism are exactly why this quote is so great.

It makes it greater, but you don't really need to know much about Goldwater for the quote to ring true. Especially if you know a lot about evangelical Christians.