Religion and The Power of Situation

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Situational forces not only effect prisoners, and those in experiments but everyday individuals. Religion itself is not excean ption to the rule. In fact it is one of the best examples in everyday life. Religion often works as a more powerful influence because believers think the arbitrary rules dictated by leaders are justified by morals, god, or “a higher power.”

Jim Jones is an extreme example and was the Evangelical pastor of the Peoples Temple, a congregation from San Fransico and Los Angeles. More than 900 people followed him to the juggles of Guyana in South America. Jones and his follower went there to create a social utopia where compassion, tolerance, and friendship would rule over materialism and racism. Soon the dreams of a better life in a Southern American utopia diminished as Jones instituted armed guards, force labor, restriction of civil liberties, and quasi-starvation diet. He would also implement torture to those who would break the rules. As most know, the story ends with a mass suicide provoked and enforced by Jones. 

Similar indoctrination happens today in America at a much larger scale. Kids on Fire School of Ministry is a Pentecostal summer camp located in Devils Lake, North Dakota and run by Becky Fischer. At the camp in North Dakota children of very young ages are sent on an emotional rollercoaster that requires them to repent for their sins and stand against such issues as abortion and global warming. The children are (basically) not given any accurate information on such issues.

The following is Phillip Zimbardo’s take on mind control “I will argue that the most dramatic instances of directed behavior change and ‘mind control’ are not the consequence of exotic forms of influence, such as hypnosis, psychotropic drugs, or ‘brainwashing,’ but rather the systematic manipulation of the most mundane aspects of human nature over time in confine settings.” 1

Evangelicalism is an increasingly disturbing issue that deserves due attention. The evangelical church have their own books, educational programs, and are the highest cohort to implement homeschool education. The situational forces that are provided in this church are unrivaled. They have such a close in-group with strick rules, indoctrination programs, and constant in-group socability that social antagonism (which is necessary to rival situation forces) in absense in almost all cases. 

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Their indoctrination works so well that evangelicals do not “believe” in global warming. More accurately they are unaware of its existence which is completely absurd because global warming is entirely self-evident. Due to the rise in ignorance a creationist museum has been built a museum that features dinosaurs with saddles because god created the world for humans, so we must have ridden them before they went extinct.... 

Remember, the power of situation and conformity happens every day and thinking that situational forces cannot influence you is a fundamental attribution error (FAE).

Also see The Power of Situation: Conformity and Obedience to Authority for more.

1. Zimbardo, Philip. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. 2007. p.258

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