Over at Parchment and Pen, Michael Patton had an interesting post about a person Virginia who apparently was “de-converted” from Christianity after 23 years of cognitively dissonant faith. Here are some thoughts:
Apparently, Virginia made a commitment to Christianity during a time of crisis in her family:
Virginia: “Christianity thrives on human suffering and yearn for community. It was precisely under these circumstances that I committed myself to Christ at 19 years old, when my family got into serious trouble — father filed for bankruptcy, my parents separated.”
Many people turn to religion in times of trouble in their lives. Such people tend to make a decision to follow a religion during emotional situations on a whim. After they are “in” they begin investigate the truth claims of the religion to find reasons for their belief. This latter phase usually happens after the crisis situation has finished. If during this period they do not find reasonable answers for their questions, they lead cognitively dissonant lives. For some, they find the answers they were looking for and some don’t. The latter group tend to be frustrated and lose their way. This is a very cumulative process as they investigate more and more issues, they become skeptical increasingly and as such come to identify with a skeptical viewpoint eventually.
Virginia: “I began fervently witnessing Christ, became a cell group leader on Bible study, witnessed to friends and relatives about Jesus and the salvation, using the tracts supplied from my church. I was active in church and in my college years, also leaded evangelizing activities witnessing Jesus. However, I sensed in the entire ethos of this set of belief, some incompleteness.”
Mike Patton comments on the “incompleteness” she mentions:
I would imagine that the “incompleteness” comes from a rising realization of “cognitive dissonance.” Cognitive dissonance describes a physiological condition[sic] where a person’s beliefs are in contradiction to other beliefs or the way they live. Often people’s habitual patterns do not harmonize with their intellectual convictions. In Christianity, it is often the case where people live according to a Christian worldview due to traditional bents without ever experiencing a true cognitive or intellectual conversion to such. This produces a dichotomous life of dissonance—inconsistency in their beliefs and practices. I would imagine that this is the case with Virginia.
Cognitive Dissonance is a psychological condition btw and the stress it brings is magnified in a situation like this where a person is inconsistent in their actions rather than in their thoughts. Mike then reveals some reasons for her leaving the faith. Some of them I found rather unreasonable. Read the rest of this entry »
