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Christianity is a belief system based on personal protection from the doom of death.
When the patriarchs were choosing how to organize an authoritative codex they left in references to things that supported that belief...like mystical references to the rapture...they really didn't move much beyond the idea of saving the individual and the world of believers from deathy doom.
Christian churches are structured to take advantage of the cognative motivators of conservative behavior. The fundamental belief in salvation from personal doom is the most highly correlated psychologcial condition with conservatism...FEAR OF DEATH. If you are into checking things off lists, you should check out the report of Jost et al. who studied the cognitive motivators of conservatism. The paper is titled “Political conservatism as motivated social cognition” ( Psychological Bulletin vol 129, pp 339-375). Publication of that paper set off a fire storm as conservatives took offense at being characterized in this way. I think you will find that political conservatism and western religion strongly share psychological correlates/cogative motivators. I am willing to bet that if you characterize christians this way they will be offended, too.
Here is what the heck I am ranting about very briefly. . .
Jost et al evaluated 88 published studies (some of these are European so the paper is not only about conservatism in the US) to determine if correlations between political conservatism and expectations derived from social theories conservatism...
The expectations they had were the following which Jost et al found to be persistent manifestations of conservatism regardless of historic setting or geographic context of the social system described in each study:
opposition to change; and acceptance of inequality
They found the following correlates to stimulus that were claimed to motivate individuals toward political conservatism....
death anxiety ( r =50) system stability (.47) dogmatism/intolerance to ambiguity (.34) openness to experience (-.32) uncertainty tolerance (-.27) needs for order/structure/closure (.26) integrative complexity (-.20) fear of threat and/or loss (.18) self-esteem (-.09)
So were they describing Christians or Republicans? It's appears to me that they might have been describing either.
Three of these significant correlations can be lumped to gether as fear - -death anxiety and system stability and fear of threat or loss. Now, death anxiety is at the core of the notion of Christian salvation which is the core of Christianity. System stability protects from the risks associated with change. The divine intercession that Christian practitioners seek via prayer frequently seeks protection from threats and loss.
The remainder of the correlates seem to be exploited by western christian churches (in my experience of them) and do this by ministering to vulnerable aspects of human nature. Authoritative voices serve to replace personal experience. Structured belief systems provide black and white answers to right and wrong and reduce dealing with societal complexity to a handful of rules. Annual cycles of ritual provide order and structure to existance and in the case of birth, marriage and death provide formal recognition, approved meanings and closure to the events. So, as the western world, and particularly North America swing to an unusually radical form of conservatism it is no surprise to me that Churches and their belief systems, including prophecies and myths seem to rise up and become more significant. Although the End Times and Rapture have been a part of chrisitan belief for many and many decades in this conservative season they are now out of hibernation and freely moving about, seemingly influencing contemporary life.
Do not worry. This too shall pass, and the christendom you fear will be destroyed will be re-established from the current "christendoom."
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