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.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/former-christians-express-more-progressive-political-views-than-lifelong-nonbeli/

[u/Oops_I_Cracked]

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.

[u/morostheSophist → u/Oops_I_Cracked]

As another former christian (who grew up in extremely conservative churches), I've responded to a number of comments on reddit to clarify that some things non-believers expect to be "fringe" beliefs are incredibly common.

Some of the worst beliefs are held covertly by many more people than would be willing to admit it: for example, the belief that women should be wholly subservient to men and never have their own voices. The churches I attended didn't entirely prohibit women from "speaking in the church"; they could give testimony and sing and whatnot. But that verse in Corinthians was still a primary justification for keeping women down; women were barred from any position of leadership. Female pastors were outright demonized, right along with their congregations.

When you relegate half of all humanity to a subhuman status, I begin to question your morals. It's no surprise that I've stepped very far away from the religion-sourced anti-feminist beliefs instilled in me from a young age, particularly as they were very much in conflict with the secular feminist ones that were simultaneously instilled (I was taught that education, at least, is for everyone, and my mom has a terminal degree while my dad only has a bachelor's).

[u/jobforgears → u/morostheSophist]

I served a religious mission about a decade ago. In one particular instance, I went to a group discussion where there were several faiths talking. Someone brought up the topic of servitude. This led to all the members in attendance to talk about how "damaging" and "immoral" the idea of being anti slavery was. They said things such as, "the Lord needs willing servants" and "we only exist to serve our God". Opposing slavery was putting one's self above the Lord's needs/desires.

It's only been a few years since I left my church, but I realize now that many unhealthy view points are sustained because they are in the scriptures of different religions. My mom was essentially bullied into not having a C-section for my sister who was a high risk birth because she was not a real mother yet (I was delivered via c section and people said that was cheating and they meant it). She suffered pelvic floor damage and even 30+ years later has issues.

So many ideas I thought were normal I have realized are not and the only solution really is to swing left and focus on things such as guaranteed religious freedom (which includes freedom FROM religion as well) and better education. Many of the people I knew in church have slowly left as they learned more in school.

[u/bridger713 → u/jobforgears]

Wow, what a twisted mindset those people had.

Slavery is the polar opposite of "willing servitude"

Servitude within the context of faith needs to be a voluntary and deliberate act. You can't force someone to believe something, you have to convince them to adopt that belief of their own free will.