Do people ever really change their religious beliefs?
by Claire Weber
In “Theology and Falsification: A Symposium,” R. M. Hare discusses how theological utterances are not assertions, but rather what he terms “bliks”—a fundamental premise or core assumption that we make about the world. To Hare, bliks cannot be contradicted and conflict in the world boils down to people’s different bliks, so any disagreement that comes from a blik cannot be resolved. For Hare, religious beliefs would be considered a blik, since often religion is a fundamental premise that people follow. When debate involves a person’s blik—including religion—there is no productive dialogue to be had.
This is a rather bleak picture, and Richard Rorty agrees, arguing in “Religion as Conversation-Stopper” that religion is “what we do with our solitude” and that religion should be private because it ends dialogue. In Rorty’s ideal world, the political sphere does not involve any religion. Saying “I would never have an abortion because it is against God’s will” is something that, to Rorty, ends productive dialogue; there is no arguing against “God’s will” with the religious. To Rorty, because religion is based on faith, it is not useful in the public sphere.
It seems a little close-minded to claim that there is no way to argue with religion and that we cannot involve religion in conversation; as Lesslie Newbigin discusses in The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, there is not a strong boundary between what we know as opposed to what we believe. He says, “There is no knowing without believing, and believing is the way to knowing.” We hold strong commitments to both our religious beliefs but also to the scientific—and is it possible to draw a clear line between the two?
Is the idea of our religious beliefs never changing an illusion?
We are living in an era where the number of people who do not identify with any religion is growing. In a 2015 Pew survey, researchers found that “nearly one-in-five U.S. adults were raised in a religious faith and now identify with no religion.” Compared with R. M. Hare’s idea that our bliks cannot be discarded, this seems to say that we can change our beliefs and core assumptions about the world.
Americans who change their religious beliefs may not hold those beliefs as part of their identity. Either this suggests that, as opposed to Hare’s idea, we can discard core assumptions, or this suggests that religion is no longer part of someone’s core assumptions. Perhaps Americans who have left their religion find another belief that becomes part of their identity – like Newbigin discusses, we hold strong commitments to the scientific, so we are not just focused on religion in our current era.
I think this is interesting to explore. Religion has for centuries given people a community – an “us” – in a struggle against a world where much of what happened was unknown and unfamiliar. Ways to connect to people in other communities or other parts of the world were limited, and if everyone you knew was within that one community, it would be difficult to leave even if you disagreed with their religious beliefs.
For better or for worse, the Internet has given us access to communities and people outside of that core “us.” As we grow up and make our first social media accounts (I think my first account made on a website was Webkinz; I am not going to suggest that my Webkinz usage as a child created a different community from my Catholic church.), we are exposed to new and different ideas. Our beliefs and perhaps even our identities are challenged. There is a potential to discover new identities for ourselves that are outside of what we are taught, and the Internet can give us access to a community and a sense of belonging online. One example of this is the subreddit r/Exmormon, where people who left the Mormon faith and are often no longer in contact with their original community or family find a sense of belonging and healing from religious trauma that they may have experienced. Some studies suggest that Internet usage may even decrease religiosity – Paul McClure found in a 2020 paper that “Internet use is negatively associated with religious attendance, frequency of prayer, reading sacred texts, and considering religion personally important…At the same time, Internet use is positively associated with being religiously unaffiliated and being an atheist.” However, it is also worth considering that a decrease in religiosity may not equate a change in belief – the “bliks” or core assumptions that we make about the world may not rely on religious attendance or prayer. Internet usage may be changing what religious belief looks like, as it could shift from a conscious choice to a subconscious ideal to hold onto as one’s perspective changes.
The results of this study are fascinating to consider, because much of what we have read in class suggests that the Internet encourages us to strengthen our beliefs, staying within our echo chambers. In The Social Media Prism, Chris Bail argues that we “care so much about our identities because they give us…a sense of self-worth.” We love to categorize ourselves into “us” versus “them,” and it seems like it would be an easy assumption to make that people would hold onto their “us” as they join the Internet, finding groups that were raised in similar religions.
What sets religion apart from other identities online?
One potential factor in the issue of the Internet having an influence on religious beliefs could be found in belief ethics. It is entirely possible that people, once exposed to various Internet communities, are able to see flaws in their religion. When a belief that you were taught was infallible is shown to be harmful to someone – perhaps a minority group, perhaps someone outside of your religion – that could push you to leave your religion for other communities.
But that does not answer every question. In class this quarter, we struggled to differentiate religious beliefs from cults or conspiracy theories. As Rob Brotherton points out in his book Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories, confirmation bias “kicks in” fast: “We seek what we expect to find.” Do the one in five people in America who no longer identify with the religious belief they were raised in seek out something different? Are they seeking a new identity?
And is that new identity that they may find satisfying? It is important to consider the differences between online and religious communities, especially the in-person aspects. Often, family and friends can be found at worship services; religious groups come together as support networks in times of trouble. Although it is possible to make friendships on the Internet, are they as genuine as the ones that could be found in a real-life community where people come together with shared ideals? As we have been living in a world that has turned virtual, it is hard to claim that those friendships are just as genuine – no Zoom call feels quite as good as a real-life conversation and no direct message exchange replaces meeting someone in person. Even as people turn away from their religious identities, a part of them still holds on, perhaps because of the community they had at one point experienced. For example, the Catholic church has a term for someone who still calls themself “Catholic” but no longer fulfills weekly church obligations – a “lapsed” Catholic. Lapsed Catholics still hold on to that identity even if they no longer participate in the Church – what is making them still hold on to that name?
Further, religious communities often are attached to cultural identities or communities. Members can celebrate aspects of themselves that there may not be space for otherwise; does the Internet fulfill this? Although it seems like the massive communities of the Internet should have space for everyone, there is also a copious amount of hatred for the “other” and groups that people do not fully understand. Of course, there is the opposite side of this, where religious groups do not create space for some identities such as members of the LGBTQ+ community, which the Internet may be able to fulfill. Perhaps it is dependent on whether an individual can find a sense of belonging within their religious community or if they feel like an outsider, so they seek that sense of belonging elsewhere.
How are religions adapting to our online reality?
Religions are also working to create communities online to educate believers and maintain relevance in a constantly shifting world. To understand how religion goes beyond rituals and institutions, scholars are looking at religion in terms of “lived religion,” where symbols and narratives are “freed from their traditional structures” (Campbell). “Lived religion” highlights how “hybridity can occur as practitioners combine religious language rituals, ideas, and artifacts from multiple traditions…even those previously seen as nonreligious,” according to Heidi A. Campbell in her article “Understanding the Relationship between Religion Online and Offline in a Networked Society.” Campbell refers to this as “networked religion,” and this is important to consider within the framework of new Internet communities and connections. Are online communities that people have found contributing to this idea of lived religion? Campbell suggests that “religion, especially that which is found online, is informed by the technological structures and characteristics of the Internet such as flattening of traditional hierarchies, encouraging instantaneous communication…and widening access to sacred or once-private information.” It is possible that the Internet is broadening religious identity and shifting it away from rituals and into a less concrete understanding of religion – religious leaders are pressured by our online reality to use Internet resources to reach more people. Further, in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Internet allowed religious communities to gather to some extent. Fully rejecting the Internet would be a mistake for religious leaders, but it is also interesting to consider what effects this online behavior will have for laity. The widened access to once-private information that Campbell references could lead to decentralization of some religions such as Catholicism, giving congregations more power over their religious beliefs and rituals and altering the path of organized religions for both people who choose to stay within their religion and people who choose to leave.
The implications may be difficult to predict or understand, but they are important to consider; will the broadening of identity allow for more acceptance of others? Or will we hold tightly to newfound identities the same way we held onto past ones? A new sense of community found online – a new “us” – may be replacing or shifting aspects of religious communities we have relied on for long periods of time; what implications does this have for polarization and the “us vs. them” ideas on the Internet?
Resources
“America’s Changing Religious Landscape.” 2015. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/.
Brotherton, Rob. 2015. Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories.
Campbell, Heidi A. 2012. “Understanding the Relationship between Religion Online and Offline in a Networked Society.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 80 (1): 64–93.
Flew, A., R. M. Hare, and B. Mitchell. 1971. “Theology and Falsification: A Symposium” in New Essays in Philosophical Theology, ed. Alasdair MacIntyre and Antony Flew
McClure, Paul K. 2020. “The Buffered, Technological Self: Finding Associations between Internet Use and Religioisity.” Social Compass 67 (3): 461–78. https://doi.org/10.1177/0037768620922128.
Newbigin, Lesslie. 1989. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.
Rorty, Richard. 1994. “Religion as Conversation-Stopper.” In Philosophy and Social Hope.