Modern psychology defines cognitive dissonance as holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously. The idea is that within a rational mind, this state should provide some level of discomfort and thus the person tries to construct a consistent worldview, even if they must jump through mental hoops to do it.
While anecdote may not be data, I have an anecdote that I believe illustrates a form of cognitive dissonance among some of those on the secular left in this country and this week's events brings this condition to the fore.
It all starts with two cups, one red and one blue, filled with coffee.
I was on a business trip this week. On the way to our early meeting, a colleague and I stopped into 7-eleven to get a cup of coffee. At the coffee counter, you can select one of two cups into which you pour your coffee. One is red with the name Romney on the side and the other blue emblazoned with Obama. I selected a red cup while he selected blue.
We have known each other for some time, he is aware of my politics; he is also aware of how important my religion is to me and that it greatly informs my politics.
When we got back in the car, I remarked on his blue cup and said, "So, you are still voting for Obama?"
He told me he was not entirely sure but he probably would. He, like many people, is very dissatisfied with the President's handling of the economy but that because of liberal social issues he still felt compelled to vote for the president. An atheist, he wanted to make sure that his daughter could get an abortion if she needed one. I sat silently and listened.
The next day, while on a break from our meeting, we saw the news that Islamic extremists had attacked embassies and consulates in the Middle East and the poor Ambassador to Libya was murdered. At the time, the news attributed the violence to an anti-Islamic movie and Pastor Terry Jones.
My colleague shook his sensitive head and said, "I don't understand why people go out of their way to insult religion, especially when they know this kind of stuff happens. I think they should arrest him."
"What about his right to free speech?" I asked.
"I know, but he shouldn't be allowed to do that, not when people might die."
He went on for a bit more and I just listened.
The next night, the participants of our meeting went out for dinner. As it turned out, I was the only Christian in a group of atheists at our table. Another colleague at the table loves to query me on religion as religious folk fascinate him in much the same way young children look at zoo animals. As such, my religion became the topic of the evening. After explaining indulgences to him and trying to convince another well informed atheist at the table that the Catholic Church did not behead Copernicus, my blue cup colleague spoke up.
"I think that religion is just a thing made up by man to control people. I think that anyone who believes in religion or God is weak minded!"
"Well," I said. "Don't you think that is a bit rude?"
"Not as rude as your priests having sex with little boys!" he blurted.
"Wow! I guess you are OK with going out of your way to insult religious people after all," I responded.
"I am entitled to my opinion and this is a free country!"
Print Edition: May 19, 2013
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Yes it is amazing how one must accept everyone elses beliefs, but when it comes time for them to accept yours they just cant do it. So its not a very accepting way of life they have after all. Nice article !
I read a news item a while back about a film or tv show that was disrespectful to Christianity & the Blessed Mother in particular.It was going to be aired in Britain in spite of protests from Catholic & Protestant groups. The protests were ignored until the Muslims joined in, after which the film was never aired.
I guess the producers figured it wasn’t a risk worth taking.
Wow! Amazing. Cognitive dissonance indeed. I’m glad that Catholics don’t have a reputation of killing people who insult their religion…but geez! Does that mean that our faith is fair game for every time of inflammatory insult? I’m so saddened by the violence in Libya. I pray to God that Muslims who genuinely embrace peace speak up and change the culture of violence over there. Kyrie Eleison.
That colleague is clearly lacking in both reason and civility - but then they are inextricably linked. Such arrogance and lack of respect are generally signs of an uncritical mind.
The real problem in our country is not the President it is the people who support the President that are a threat to our liberty. The lack of logic and critical thinking are too common today.
Your friend said, ““I am entitled to my opinion and this is a free country!” And you replied, ... ? ... Did you say anything to help nudge him toward the possibility of detecting/admitting the existence of cognitive dissonance?
I am Catholic—the problem I see with this article is the Atheists were correct, out Priests have abused little boys. We have to live with that fact.
Thanks Jeannine, for completely missing the point.
There was no cognitive dissonance if your friend said..‘if it incites violence’ as a requisite. You should have punched him in the face, then asked, as it did result in violence.
Read that laughing as hard as I am…good point, I work in academics,I see this all the time from atheists. I get the ‘don’t repress me with your outdated religion. In fact, you better shut up! I shouldn’t have to hear religious talk. And if you don’t like it…too bad, I’m sick of your intolerance.’
At some point, your colleague will tick off the wrong person, and he’ll have to deal with the tables turned on him.
Just think, in a couple of decades your colleague will be shamed when he recalls how homophobic he used to be by maligning gay sex with little boys. After all, won’t “enlightened” love simply be about love no matter *who* or *what* is involved, so long as both parties say, “I’m expressing who I *am*, and how I *feel*”? Hollywood and N.A.M.B.L.A. will have sufficiently massaged a higher understanding out of him. What about classical Greece and Rome? How Judeo Christian of him. Shame on him for being so judgey!
You exercised far more restraint than I would have. I know people like your friend. I used to be a person like him. Smug and self righteous in my atheism. And obnoxious too. Always willing to use my intellectual gifts to attack those who believed.
God grabbed me one day and showed me I was wrong. Now I find that I have little tolerance for those who act like I used to. I try to lead gently up to a point. However, when I am attacked in a group setting like that I allow for righteous wrath and I counterattack. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees when they were leading the people astray. I consider these people modern Pharisees and worthy of the same treatment.
Only the Holy Spirit can lead the truly lost to faith but the witnesses to a discussion like yours might actually be on the fence about their beliefs. Our own rigorous defense might be just what it takes to win them over just as I was won over by the arguments of C.S. Lewis. Some people can be led with sweetness and love but others have to be knocked off their high horse, just like Paul.
Your colleague was absolutely right. It’s the difference between screaming “fire” in a crowded theater (illegal) just to see everyone’s reaction versus making a harsh—but true—comment without harming those around you. Hence, I assume the storyteller was struggling with cognitive dissonance—not the atheist.
But Bill, couldn’t you argue that the anti-Islamic movie was just making a “harsh - but true - comment”?
Your ” friends ” are proof enough that atheism leads to tyranny. No doubt they would love to deprive you of your right of free speech and of a lot of other rights - that is really why they support Obama. What they don’t realize is that their world view is just a short distance from the Jungle. Don’t they ever look at the world? Don’t they ever look at history?
Pat Archibold, I have many friends and acquaintances like yours, and I truly sympathize with your circumstances at that dinner table. There have been many situations, at work and at social events, where I have dreaded the turns of the conversation, foreseeing that sooner or later my enlightened companions were going to force a discussion of the evils of my religion, and force me to stand up to defend it.
I realize these discussions give us a great opportunity to define our faith, but there is such a lack of civility among these “new atheists”, and such misinformation out there about our history, that being an apologist is sometimes an onerous cross to bear. I would much rather talk about anything else. Oh well.
Perhaps these uncivil comments are just masked requests to learn about Jesus.
“Not as rude as your priests having sex with little boys!”
Actually, not as rude as atheists murdering fifty million people in the USSR (per Bukovsky).
Or murdering sixty million babies in the United States.
Or inflicting AIDS on the world.
A propos, the movie was a pretext. Let’s not soak up everything we hear. Dig a little.
“Why do the nations rage?”
Dictatorship. Of. Relativism.
@Patrick…exactly, It’s not about the movie, people! It’s not about the movie! Can you think of any other reason why young Muslim men might hate the US? Perhaps listening to what they were chanting when they attacked on Sept. 11, “We’re all Osamas, Obama” etc. might give some hint.
There is a much, much higher rate of public school teachers sexually abusing kids than priests. But I sure your friend doesn’t have a problem with public schoools.
I am an atheist in the midwest who is generally far out-numbered by Christians in work and social situations. I avoid disrupting these occasions by keeping my beliefs to myself. That’s what Christians want, right? If you don’t believe as they do, they resent your saying so—“getting in their faces”—with your “militant” atheism. I don’t want to hurt feelings or mess up good working relationships by bringing up issues that most Christians (Mr. Archbold clearly being an exception) can’t discuss without getting emotional. In fairness, many atheists are similarly unable to discuss religion objectively.
The disadvantage Christians experience from this is that in many situations they don’t actually know how many people are just sitting back and silently thinking they are silly to base their political views on fantasy. This silence has allowed Christian Americans to assume for decades that their worldview still prevails, while voting patterns are telling a different story.
Surface deference, as Muslims demand, has a cost. Do the rioting Muslims ever consider the private acts of blasphemy and blasphemous thoughts about Mohammed that result from their horrifying antics (clearly stemming from profound fears of personal and cultural inadequacy)? No they do not, because all they care about is the illusion of being seen to be respected. They don’t truly care about insults to Allah or Mohammed. It’s the insult to their own self-regard that stings.
It will take decades, but eventually Islam in the Middle East will be hollowed out like Christianity. It will still be the social norm, but it won’t have any teeth, which will be how most of the population wants it beneath surface “respect.”
Behavior that is rewarded gets repeated.
That’s how those kids in the supermarket screaming for candy, snacks and toys train their parents.
Your atheist acquaintences have been well trained by Muslims.
The disadvantage Christians experience from this is that in many situations they don’t actually know how many people are just sitting back and silently thinking they are silly to base their political views on fantasy.
If by “fantasy” you are referring to the belief that either of the major political parties has the best interests of the average American at heart, then Christians certainly have no monopoly on fantasy.
People have the right to offend, as well as be offended. Mark Shea uses this right freely. If you can’t defend your position in a civil manner, the ridicule you get is well-deserved.
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Posted by Mark P. Shea on Tuesday, Sep 25, 2012 7:16 PM (EST):
Rita:
Would you mind telling me where you cut and pasted this from? And where they cut and pasted it from? Because for a skeptic, you seem remarkably unskeptical. Do you really think the Christian story derives from Meso-American or Taiwanese tales? And do you really think Jesus never existed? Are you that gullible just because some website provides you with a little fodder to feed your prejudices?
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Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mark-shea/why-believe-in-the-perpetual-virginity-of-mary#ixzz27bf0LNvE
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Posted by Rita on Wednesday, Sep 26, 2012 11:56 AM (EST):
MS—are you trying to tell me you don’t feed your own prejudices?
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My point is that if you look at other religions, past and present, there is almost always a mythical hero that is born of a virgin and sacrifices himself. Annual holidays, such as Christmas and Easter have been observed by different religions to worship their gods and astronomic patterns. Christ is just another version of the myth.
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Look up “virgin births” and you will find numerous sites.
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And no, I do not believe the Jesus Christ described as born of a virgin and “died for our sins” ever existed. I also don’t believe that Quetzalcoatl, Dionysus, Horus, or any of the other fictional “saviors” existed either.
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But, as I’ve written before, Christ is a fictional character and if the Church (who edits and perpetuates this fiction) can make him an un-married virgin if it wants to.
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Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mark-shea/why-believe-in-the-perpetual-virginity-of-mary#ixzz27bf7w6KF
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Posted by Mark P. Shea on Wednesday, Sep 26, 2012 12:34 PM (EST):
Rita:
I note that you did not answer my question, but merely fired off a tu quoque. If you are so incorrigibly ignorant as to maintain that Jesus never existed, then that’s not surprising. Continue your cutting and pasting. It’s easier than thinking.
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Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/mark-shea/why-believe-in-the-perpetual-virginity-of-mary#ixzz27bfC9nop
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