The only way to change the tide of religious extremism is to change the minds of the believers. Taking an unconventional approach to save the believer is a worthwhile endeavor. Are you ready for the challenge?
Religious indoctrination is a slippery slope. The more exposure you have to this brainwashing technique, the farther down you slide and the harder it becomes to change the trajectory of your thinking. Someone brainwashed will reject facts and reason to protect their sacred ground.
Can You Save a Believer?
“Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky.” — George Carlin
“I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue.” — Bertrand Russell
“Reason is non-negotiable. Try to argue against it or to exclude it from some realm of knowledge, and you’ve already lost the argument because you’re using reason to make your case. And no, this isn’t having faith in reason (in the same way that some people have faith in miracles), because we don’t believe in reason; we use reason.” — Steven Pinker
You need an approach that avoids confrontation but can still help them make the right decisions because that’s how we make the world a better place.
Yes, You Can Save The Believer
Saving someone means returning them to their original mindset, free from any religious propaganda. It’s not an easy task, but it can be done. You must guide them to the knowledge and give them the proper support to motivate them to make the change themselves.
To overcome strongly held beliefs, you must get permission to walk on their sacred ground so you can show them the errors of their thinking and show them that it is okay to change their beliefs. This requires passing a religious litmus test. We’ll show you how to do this shortly.
It is possible to save a believer from the power of religious propaganda. How do you do this? The first step is to identify their level of indoctrination. You must pass the litmus test to become a trusted member of their group so they will allow you to illuminate their sacred ground.
A believer is someone who accepts myths and superstitions as truth. There are four separate levels of belief:
- Fringe
- Moderate
- Hardline
- Extremist
Each group exhibits a specific level of harmful thinking and behavior. Harmful thinking increases as you move down from the fringe to the Extremist. What makes a believer?
Religions use tactics of self-hypnosis and group hypnosis to override common sense. These tools enable them to install harmful beliefs and values. These are some of the most effective brainwashing tools ever created.
Levels of Religious Belief and Indoctrination
1) Fringe Believer
The believer on the fringe does not accept all the tenets of their religion. They remain a member because of family ties, cultural tradition, or necessity. People in this group give in to peer pressure and still show public acceptance. They attend regular meetings and even provide financial support.
“You believe in a book that has sticks turning into snakes, and you say we are the ones that need help?” — Dan Barker
The fringe believer sees the religion’s inconsistencies. They accept many of its negative social biases to fit in. Their silence supports unjust and unfair policies. This group is more likely to reject the religion altogether.
The process of saving a believer is effective in helping them find spiritual freedom. We recommend the use of comparative analysis, a structured way of examining concepts in religions. When used together, it helps them see the biased and prejudiced thinking behind the doctrine.
2) Moderate Believer
Moderates are the backbone of the sect. They attend services regularly. They may know about the factual and logical problems of their beliefs, but they ignore them. Many of their personal and business relationships are with people in the religion, cementing them into the religious narrative.
“The most dangerous fundamentalists aren’t just waging war in Iraq; they’re attacking evolution, blocking medical research and ignoring the environment.” — Jill Greenberg
They are more susceptible to extremist ideologies because they are exposed to groupthink manipulation tactics. This group often spends several hours a week watching religious TV and radio programming. However, they can also be powerful advocates for the truth if you can turn their passion away from religious bigotry. The unconventional process below is one of the best methods for changing their thinking.
3) Hardline Believer
The hardline believer is the person who sees their religion as their identity. Hardline believers attend more than one meeting a week and take courses to advance their knowledge of their sect. Because of their devotion to the cult, they become middle-management.
Hardliners often lead small groups and help enforce the boundaries of their beliefs. They can be influential in pushing either a liberal or extremist agenda. Groupthink manipulation tactics are second nature to them now because they have been subjected to it for so long. Not being aware they have been brainwashed, they mimic the same strategies to convert others.
4) Extremist Believer
Extremists can often become the leaders of the sect. They seek ways to spark controversy, fear, and anger. Their position of authority helps them strong emotional ties that motivate the sect members to act on their behalf.
They attend religious meetings almost daily, go on religious retreats frequently, and listen to religious radio and TV broadcasts regularly. In the end, their religion consumes their personal identity.
“I am absolutely convinced that religion is the main source of hatred in this world.” — Christopher Hitchens
Extremists develop the need to believe. Belief in their religious mythology and superstition become the centerpieces of their lives. They will defend their worldview with violence if necessary. Religious elitism dominates their thinking, a chosen one mentality that gives a false sense of superiority. It’s not impossible for them to change their minds, but they likely have a lot of baggage and ties into their closed community, which makes it challenging.
An Unconventional Approach To Save The Believer
There are two well-known approaches for winning over someone with firmly held religious beliefs. We know the first one as “reprogramming.” It was an infamous practice in the 1970s. It is a tactic to take minors against their will into private custody from religious compounds.
Reprogramming is not widely used today because it involves kidnapping a person and holding them in custody, forcing them to face the facts about their beliefs. It’s one way to save a believer, but for obvious reasons, we do not recommend this tactic.
The second technique is an approach that uses alignment and acceptance to guide people into making better choices. In this technique, you gain acceptance to help someone see the big picture and understand how they have become brainwashed. Even hardline and extremist believers can be guided to change their minds. But it will take an investment of your time. If you care for people and the world, this is worth the effort. If you have a friend who has succumbed to the effects of religious indoctrination, then this process is a good option. We call it the unconventional approach to save a believer. You are reading about it now.
Fringe, moderate, and hardline believers are all susceptible to extremist ideologies. Changing their mindset can help keep them from becoming a danger to others.
Once you help them become freethinkers, they become powerful advocates for positive change. The world needs more people who care for others and the planet. Here are the steps you can take to guide the deeply religious from extremism to a freethinker. It’s important not to skip or rush through the steps.
1) Alignment for Acceptance
Step one. Gain alignment. Yes, alignment is the first key. Alignment leads to acceptance. The believer needs to feel safe with you. So, you must align with them to gain acceptance. In principle, you must agree to the tenets of their worldview for them to accept you as safe.
Research the language and catchphrases they use. The typical believer mimics and repeats specific phrases. These cues act as bonding mechanisms of the group. You need to learn these. For example, at the end of a sentence, they will tag the phrase, praise Jesus. They may gaze upward at the same time.
You save the believer through acceptance. Notice I didn’t say trust. The foundation of organized religion is fear. So, it is hard for believers to trust anything outside their enclave. They live in a continual state of fear over losing several things, from their health and financial security to their afterlife. They have anxiety over losing personal freedoms, which are all exploited for control.
This alignment stage is critical and may take some time. Be careful not to confront or threaten any of the central tenets of their worldview. It will make it harder for them to accept you as someone who shares their beliefs and is safe. You may need to attend several meetings before they accept you as a group member. It can be a substantial investment of time, but it’s worth it if you can help someone find their way out of the programming.
Bottom line: You must play along with the make-believe to align and be accepted as safe. If you are not ready to play along, this strategy isn’t for you. If you have strong moral objections to playing the game to reach someone or live with the consequences, the fact is, we all have to live with the results of those who remain under the influence of negative religious programming.
2) Passing a Religious Litmus Test
Winning over a believer depends on your ability to pass a litmus test. This test proves you share the same beliefs and are like-minded. You must be able to answer their benchmark questions to gain acceptance. It’s an essential step in this unconventional approach.
This litmus test can come at any time. It could come in your first conversation, so do your homework ahead of time. Find out what things are necessary to pass the test. i.e., Do you need to know a specific creed or critical part of their sacred texts? Do you believe in the power of magical underwear or holy texts?
Passing a religious litmus test requires your answer to be believable. To do this and give truthful answers, you must give qualified responses. A qualified answer is a truthful yet incomplete answer. It answers their question but does not necessarily disclose the full scope of your position on the matter.
For example, if they ask you if you believe in the existence of Zeus. In good conscience, you can say yes, I believe Zeus exists. It is a truthful, qualified response. It does not include the additional information that you also believe in Mithra and Apollo’s existence to the same degree, which is precisely zero. You believe Zeus exists to the same degree as the other Gods.
A qualified response is pretending. It is just like when you were a child; you played games where you pretended you had an imaginary friend. This is the adult version. You and the believer are pretending. However, the religious believer thinks his imaginary friend is real. You pretend, too, but you know the imaginary friend is not real. Playing the pretend game with them gives you acceptance. This is how passing the religious litmus test makes you someone they can accept.
Passing the litmus test makes you acceptable, allowing you to align. Now, you can help lead the religious believer to the truth by asking more probing questions.
3) Ask for Help
Asking for help shows you respect their knowledge. It helps to build trust because you are coming to them for answers. This unconventional approach is non-confrontational. It forces them to think about what they believe and why. This strategy leads them down the path of questioning their cultural narrative.
You can set up the questions as things that bother you from when you were in Sunday School. It can merely be questions that come up because of your research. Here are some questions to get this process started.
If God created everything and everyone and is a loving God, why create Hell in the first place? Christians say Jesus will save the believer from Hell. But, if the same person offering you salvation also promises to send you to Hell, this is extortion, not salvation. It is exactly like the person who says if you don’t pay me, I’ll do something terrible to you.
If God is all-powerful and saw people were sinning, why didn’t he talk to them and get them to change their ways? Instead, he punished everyone by flooding the entire world. That doesn’t seem like the actions of a rational, loving being, does it?
If God is omnipotent and omniscient, he knows all things and is all-powerful; why did he create Satan, knowing he would cause evil? (This is the problem of evil or mitigated dualism).
If God is a loving God who forgives, why didn’t he Satan for his disobedience? And if God can save murderers, why not Satan?
Since you must proclaim Jesus as a savior to be saved, what happened to everyone who lived before Jesus was born? What happened to everyone who lived before the time of Jesus? Are they exempt from this requirement, or did they all go to Hell?
They will more than likely give you a pre-programmed answer, but the questions will make them think about their beliefs. Hopefully, this will lead them to question the cultural narrative. If possible, get them to engage in a Comparative Analysis study with you. It’s a structured form of comparative religious study. It will expose them to the similarities of concepts in other belief systems.
In Conclusion
We make the world a better place when we save the believer from their propaganda. We help them see how their religion uses programming to install negative bias and prejudice. You help pose the right questions to confront their unhealthy magical thinking.
It all starts with the unconventional approach, which requires alignment to gain acceptance. Passing the religious litmus test gives you the foundation for a relationship so that you can lead them to the facts and evidence. Eventually, you can help them confront the facts behind their beliefs in mythology. It will move them closer to a more humanist-centered mindset. You save a believer, one person at a time.
“People know the difference between good and evil in their hearts-if they search them. Religions twist good and evil. Their differences are the kind that need to be taught because they aren’t natural.” — Julianna Baggott
“You could easily spot any Religion of Peace. Its extremist members would be extremely peaceful.” ― Ricky Gervais
In the end, you may have to decide whether to save or break a friendship. Please share your thoughts about this unconventional process; contact us via this link.