In sales, the best closing arguments invoke powerful emotions like fear. Psychological manipulation through fear is one of the all-time best closing tools. Are you a victim of these sales tactics through organized religion?
Backward and harmful religious traditions are a part of modern culture. Most people don’t question how religion uses insecurity and fear. The influence of fear on believers is commonplace. Why don’t more people see this exploitation of faith for profit?
Manipulating Believers Through Fear
Science tells us we have core fears from which all other fears, phobias, and anxieties arise. These include fears include:
— Lack of basic needs such as food and shelter.
— The fear of abandonment and loss of significant relationships.
— Loss of personal identity and lack of meaningful purpose.
— Fears about health, including pain, suffering, and the existential fear of death.
The fears listed above have many derivations. See if one of these fears sounds familiar:
— Fear of being unwanted or abandoned.
— losing love or relationships.
— Being seen as a failure or undervalued.
— Viewed as ordinary, imperfect, or defective.
— Being seen as incompetent.
— The fear of things always going wrong.
— Loss of personal freedom, fear of being controlled or being out of control.
— Nothing tops the fear of death. (1)
Each personality type has its unique trigger. The Enneagram of personality helps us identify and control the triggers that lead to unhealthy thinking. Each type of fear trigger eventually points to the existential fear of death.
How Religion Uses Insecurity and Fear
The subject of death is one of the first philosophical questions children ask. Just talking about it can bring about the existential crisis called the “dark night of the soul.” What we do with this subject can lead to our spiritual awakening. This fear makes us vulnerable to the counterfeit answers of mythology and superstition. It is ripe for misuse by the unscrupulous. Organized religion turns this fear into an unprecedented cash flow mechanism. It’s all about manipulating believers through fear. Psychological manipulation through fear is the backbone of the Abrahamic religions.
The Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (2) have built their wealth on our existential fear. They didn’t invent this approach; they adopted it from the mystery religions of the Mediterranean.
The dying-God cults from Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and Persia created concepts of heaven and hell. These are part of the dogma of mitigated dualism that enables the exploitation of faith for profit. The Abrahamic religions merely copied these doctrines when they took over these religions. It is the world’s first significant rebranding effort.
Using the Influence of Fear on Believers
Religions saw how effective it was to create a problem and then provide the solution for a price. People will die, so why not give them something more to increase their anxiety? Thus, the creation of hell. But create heaven’s solution, a beautiful afterlife (if you qualify).
Unethical political movements use this same strategy. The Nazi party blamed all the nation’s ills on those of ethnic Jewish heritage. Then, they expanded who they hated to include those with disabilities, political decenters, and LGBT. This same scenario played out again in 2015. Trump started with immigrants and those of Middle Eastern descent as the ones who caused all the nation’s problems. He went on to target those with disabilities and the LGBGTQ community. Fear becomes hate when you pick a scapegoat.
The afterlife became the all-time best-selling antidote for our existential fear. Selling the superstition of the afterlife preys on your insecurity and fear of death and the unknown.
Using the influence of fear on believers also enables them to capitalize on other aspects of human nature. Greed is another one of the drivers that proves to be profitable. Greed is simply the fear of being poor. There are a number of Christian ministries that focus on providing God’s financial help if you contribute to them. Prosperity theology has made many preachers multimillionaires. Topping the list is Kenneth Copeland, with an estimated net worth of 800 million dollars.
The Exploitation of Faith for Profit
The afterlife is the ideal product. There are never any returns or customer complaints. It’s also a good closing tool for retaining members. After all, you don’t want to lose your place in heaven. Worse yet, you don’t want to end up in hell. Manipulating believers through fear isn’t even seen as a con artist tactic. Those who sell the afterlife are also customers. The best liars are those who believe the lie is true.
The afterlife isn’t the only commodity they sell. They have branched out to sell prosperity and healing. Selling these enables them to prey on those in economic and health crises. But they rarely provide any real assistance for these needs. Instead, they direct you to pray for those things. However, they still want your hard-earned cash. It is a scheme to prey on their followers’ financial insecurity and greed. So, magnifying our fear and insecurity is a devious selling strategy and closing tool.
It provides a never-ending cash flow source, preying upon those who can least afford it. And when your healing doesn’t come. You didn’t pray hard enough. When your financial troubles multiply, you haven’t given enough money to them.
Psychological Manipulation Through Fear
So, you need to maintain good standing. You may hedge your bets if you buy indulgences and make even more significant financial donations. Thus helping to perpetuate the most prosperous religion on the planet.
It is possible to measure religion’s physical and mental effects by comparing people who are not religious with those who are. The way these two groups respond to questions about their state of mind and decision-making differ significantly. (3)
Coping with Adversity
From 2000 to 2010, over 400 studies were conducted on how people cope with adversity. These reports detail how religious beliefs affect the ability to handle stressful situations. Most religious followers felt their beliefs helped them cope. However, their beliefs did not improve the situation. This is a cognitive distortion that rationalizes inaction in adversity.
People without religious beliefs could cope better and seek viable solutions. Their ability to cope corresponded with their ability to think clearly. This helped them to analyze the situation and act appropriately.
Healthcare decisions based on modern medical advice and treatment have better outcomes than those who don’t. Those who use religious beliefs to determine healthcare are five times more likely to die from serious health conditions.
Religious believers feel good about rejecting modern medical care, even when it results in bad outcomes. Here, the influence of fear on believers is tied to their lack of faith. They refuse medical treatment because they fear it will mean they don’t have sufficient faith in the religion.
Psychological manipulation through fear also affects how we handle other types of crises. In life-threatening emergencies, it can inhibit our normal response to help others. Instead, we refrain from assisting directly and rely on prayer as a response.
Self-Image
By mid-2010, over 300 studies were done on religious beliefs and self-image. Eighty percent of these show a connection between negative self-image and religious beliefs. Guilt and shame from religious beliefs drive these feelings. These come from a variety of life self-esteem and self-identification issues.
People who have made alternative life choices are more likely to suffer from depression, guilt, and shame. This includes those who made choices that affected their education and vocations. It has the highest adverse effects on those who do not follow traditional gender roles.
Obedience Instilled by Religious Fear
There are over 20 studies that focus on the locus of control. One would expect religious beliefs to provide a positive outlook because they believe their God is in control of events. However, this was not the case; most people found a growing conflict between the doctrines of religion and reality. Manipulating believers through fear works best with those who have hardline religious convictions.
If you are highly religious, you give a third party control of your major life decisions. These decisions include family relationships and healthcare options. However, if you were a moderate or fringe believer, you were more likely to disagree with the intrusion of religion into personal matters. The issues of healthcare choices, family planning, and significant relationships topped the list. Obedience instilled by religious fear is directly linked to discrimination and violence.
Religious beliefs may provide an indirect psychological sense of control. But this is only if they believe their higher power will intervene on their behalf. Reliance on superstition relinquishes the responsibility for these decisions. The influence of fear on believers makes them compliant even with matters of the heart.
Overall Mental Health
Over 250 studies have been done since the 1960s on mental health and religious beliefs. They looked at religion’s effect on several conditions. Depression, suicide, and general anxiety are at the top of the list. They tracked psychological disorders such as schizophrenia, Bipolar, and narcissistic behavioral tendencies.
These mental conditions are widely dispersed in the population. So, researchers expected to find some positive effects of religious beliefs on the state of mind. However, this is not the case. Religious beliefs do not provide statistically measurable mental health benefits. Some studies point to religion as exacerbating any underlying mental health condition.
Psychological manipulation through fear has adverse long-term effects on the psyche. Living in a constant state of fear exacerbates many underlying mental conditions. It also is linked to an increase in suicide, especially for those in marginalized groups.
Those with major mental health conditions are less likely to improve if they have strongly held religious beliefs. That is because these beliefs often undermine modern mental health therapy. Neither medicine nor therapy can overcome harmful programming. The patient must be able to change their beliefs. Magical thinking about the fears of hell and demons is detrimental to mental health. It becomes difficult to overcome these beliefs when they are connected to instinctual fears. Losing afterlife rewards is a powerful motivator for the religious believer.
Learning to Use Your Existential Fear
Unfortunately, the afterlife concept is like putting a bandage on a broken leg. All it does is keep us from exploring this deepest fear. However, our existential anxiety doesn’t go away; it has an essential purpose. It is a mechanism that should propel our inward journey of spiritual exploration.
Spiritual exploration is the use of tools to explore consciousness. It has nothing to do with religious beliefs. In fact, religion creates limiting beliefs that hinder the process of exploring consciousness.
Empowering Believers Against Fear and Insecurity
The path of spiritual exploration begins for many when they can finally reject religion’s promises. One must leave behind counterfeits and learn to face your insecurity and fear of death.
Learning how religion uses insecurity and fear to keep people customers is a big step for the believer. Leaving any belief system is challenging because it doesn’t involve only beliefs. In addition, leaving a religion means changing or severing their relationship with people. For many people, the region is part of their identity.
Many people will only associate with those who continue to buy into and support religion. Sometimes, this is by choice, but it is often part of the religion’s control mechanism. These practices ensure they do not associate people with others outside the belief system. It keeps outsiders from containing other “believers.” They don’t want their customers to see inconsistencies in the belief system.
Religion is very expensive not only in monetary responsibility but also in time. Religion consumes an enormous amount of time. It often requires mandatory meetings, readings, and specified daily rituals. The time you spend memorizing mythology is time wasted.
We must seek ways of empowering believers against fear and insecurity. Once they see what is causing their fears, then they can change what they believe. It takes significant effort to be able to help believers become freethinkers. We have a process that has been effective; we call it saving a believer.
Here are five things you can do to escape the obedience instilled by religious fear.
1. Education
Learn about the history and inconsistencies of the doctrines. Use sources outside of the religion. Knowledge is one way to counter the exploration of faith for profit. The more you know about the factual basis of the religion, the more confidence you will gain to leave it behind. i
2. Find Partners
Find others who are on the same path of discovery. People who have left cults can give you valuable knowledge to overcome the obstacles you’ll encounter. If you can find a local partner or support group, join an online forum. Another good option is to work with a therapist who specializes in religious trauma. A good support system makes your quest much smoother.
3. Prioritize Self-Care
Changing beliefs is stressful. So, it’s important to engage in self-care on a regular basis. Do things that help you get away from the stress of religious deprogramming. Relax and normalize what you are learning. Exercise and meditation are two activities that help you work out the stress. Take a walk and spend time in nature to find time to ruminate.
4. Question Everything
Don’t take things at face value. If it is safe to do so, question conflicting teachings. Trust to trust your gut instincts and intuition. If something doesn’t make sense, don’t accept it.
5. Look Forward
Plan for your future outside the cult. Explore different spiritual paths. Don’t carry the fear and guilt of the cult with you. Make spiritual exploration an individual quest that doesn’t require joining a religion.
In Conclusion
Psychological manipulation through fear has disastrous health reputations. Fear and insecurity drive religious conflicts, including war and genocide. It is behind the mental health epidemic that exacerbates many conditions.
The afterlife is the most profitable selling strategy and closing tool ever devised. It capitalizes on our existential fear. If you purchase the afterlife substitute, your spiritual journey stops before it starts. So you are effectively buying insecurity and a dead end. You’ll need the courage and knowledge to face your fears. You must decide if you dare to follow your heart and explore it.
It’s okay to disagree with the data. If you have comments or questions, please contact us. If you find value in our mission, please consider donating.
References
(1) The Influence of Fear on Risk Taking: A Meta-Analysis. National Library of Medicine
(2) Abrahamic Religions, Wikipedia.
(3) Acute stress leaves fear generalization in healthy individuals intact. National Library of Medicine