1) Early indoctrination
2) Fear of hell/judgement
3) The belief that questioning (the Bible, the preacher, the parents, etc.) is a sin and will send you to hell (a subset of 2, but relevant.
4) Community - - being surrounded by people who share the same belief and support you for your belief.
5) The belief that this life is only a small test to see whether you will be devout enough to get to heaven - which is the ultimate goal.
6) - - but not applicable in the case of the OP - - inadequate teaching of science
When you add these factors together, I think you need something pretty powerful to shake the mindset. Had I not been forced to deal with homosexuality, I probably would never have questioned the way I was brought up. I would have ended up a Westboro/Duggar type of wifey, with a bunch of proper little fundie kids, married to a preacher like my Mother always hoped.
I always had questions, and was curious about science . . . but if I had stayed in the church, I probably would have just dismissed it all, because it disagreed with what I was told was the "real" truth, and because those scientists were agents of Satan.
2) Fear of hell/judgement
3) The belief that questioning (the Bible, the preacher, the parents, etc.) is a sin and will send you to hell (a subset of 2, but relevant.
4) Community - - being surrounded by people who share the same belief and support you for your belief.
5) The belief that this life is only a small test to see whether you will be devout enough to get to heaven - which is the ultimate goal.
6) - - but not applicable in the case of the OP - - inadequate teaching of science
When you add these factors together, I think you need something pretty powerful to shake the mindset. Had I not been forced to deal with homosexuality, I probably would never have questioned the way I was brought up. I would have ended up a Westboro/Duggar type of wifey, with a bunch of proper little fundie kids, married to a preacher like my Mother always hoped.
I always had questions, and was curious about science . . . but if I had stayed in the church, I probably would have just dismissed it all, because it disagreed with what I was told was the "real" truth, and because those scientists were agents of Satan.
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein