The Problem with Christians

[TheRocketSurgeon]

That they do.

I'm not sure what the answer is. It's hard for me to say having never experienced it. Maybe one of our ex-theists can enlighten me.

I guess they think following God is making them do those bad things less, even if that's not actually true. If, for example, someone has been indoctrinated from birth, they will have nothing to compare to. So they can simply be told they would do the bad things more, if they didn't "follow God", and be programmed to believe it.

Kind of like everyone generally assumes their childhood is normal, until they have someone else's to compare to.

Quite. In fact, the evangelicals revel in "conversion stories", in which they "testify" to their fellow congregants how Jesus came in and changed their behavior and made them better, though of course they also say it's a struggle. It is entirely possible that, for people who need structure and order and hierarchy in their lives, it might actually make them better people to have an easily-digested system to which to compare their behavior and set "higher" ethical behavior goals within that framework. (See also Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.)

[ETA: this paragraph] It may be quite possible to measure a quantifiable change in the better behavior of those who become Believers and follow the path set out by that tradition... however, I would venture to say that in a large (too large) percent of their flock, the ones who genuinely change for the better and treat others well are too few. Even they recognize this, though, when they talk about how few in the actual church are "heaven bound" (read: in compliance with our scriptures and social order). Some will conform out of peer pressure, others out of sincere desire to be better as God Himself (they believe) commanded, and still others do it for selfish reasons or to avoid repercussion... but for many, nevertheless, it is likely a positive influence. It's when it becomes a mass-psychology situation, when the cult becomes a movement, that it begins to be threatening to others and not just to themselves. That may be weighed down by the effect in establishing a social order, provided there are secular restrictions in place. Enforced if necessary.

In other words, I don't see it, in itself, as a bad thing. However, as you have pointed out, it's easy to waylay and turn it into something dangerous, especially in large groups that attain power over centuries, each new generation unaware of how much detritus they are swallowing from the previous generations in that tradition... or how it alters somewhat with time.

We should not discount the feelings of the Believers, nor fail to grasp what is going on biologically, when their brains tell them certain information.