Why do people say Christians are "brainwashed"?

Question

Why do people say Christians are "brainwashed"? Brainwashed means to be forced to believe something..do people not understand what Christianity is about?

Christians struggle with faith all the time (just like anyone of any other faith). We're tested constantly, turn from God almost daily, and have trouble staying on the correct path. If we were brainwashed, we would be so blindsighted by everything else that we would never lose faith.

It seems very ignorant to me which is why I have to ask--why do people think religous people are brainwashed?

Answer 1

It's not brainwashing... that is, unless you're a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon. And it's not that people are religious, it's that they're spiritual

Answer 2

It's not so much that people think Christians are brainwashed as it is that Christians who repeat what they heard a minister say are brainwashed. Structured religionists, regardless of whether they are Christian, Islamic, Jewish or any other religion can come across as brainwashed.

I am a non-denominational Christian. I do not follow any "structured" religious format. I was raised Catholic but would never consider myself a Catholic now. Nor would I consider myself a Baptist, Methodist, or Protestant. I am a Christian. I read/study the Bible and interpret it to the best of MY knowledge. The "brainwashed" Christian comes from people who claim to be devout Christians but cannot hold an inteligent conversation about the Bible because they don't have their Pastor (or Spiritual leader) available to tell them what the Bible says and they are afraid to mis-interpret a passage. Those are your brainwashed Christians.

If you were to ask five different pastors/ministers/spiritual leaders to interpret the same Biblical passage, you would get five different answers that would best fit THEIR personal beliefs. It is a fair bet that none of them would be the same as your interpretation unless one of the ministers you asked was the preacher at your church.

Yes, it's stereotypical and yes, it will probably continue until the churches start supporting the ideal that the Bible will be interpreted differently by every person that reads it. That is one of the hidden powers that the Bible has - people can find the verses that will help them through troubled times if they are willing to interpret what THEY need from it!

Answer 3

I think it has to do with the fact that the majority of Christians are the result of Christian parents. There certainly are converts, but the majority are born into Christian families. Most of these people believe on the basis of how they've been raised. It's been instilled since birth, and they've been programmed to believe in certain concepts. Then as adults, most of them really don't have a good basis for their belief, other than "I just know it's true because of faith". Most Christians can't give a good answer for why they believe what they believe, therefore people think they're brainwashed. Wouldn't you? If some Muslim couldn't give a logical reason for his/her belief but just said they had faith, wouldn't you think that was a result of brainwashing, even though the Muslim may at times struggle with his/her faith?

Answer 4

Some Christians ARE brainwahsed!!!!! I do understand what Christianity is about, and do know people who decided to become Born Again and they have completely changed, but in a scary way, not a good you found G-d way.Its not so much about losing faith, it's about becoming so extreme in your beliefs you don't see how you are effecting other people around you.There seems to be a lack of thinking for yourself, with the brainwashed type of people. If you want a good example watch Jesus Camp. And I am NOT picking on Christians, I am just answering your question, you can find this thinking in all religions.

Answer 5

I don't think that brainwashed is the right word, but it's very close. As children, we learn from our parents, and we have evolved to blindly accept whatever they tell us as pure truth. It's a very useful survival trait. But false beliefs can be passed down as well. Parents tell their children, "The Bible is the infallible word of god." Children believe everything their parents tell them, whether it's true or not. And they will continue to believe in religion once they grow up, despite religion's obvious falsity.

Also:
"If we were brainwashed, we would be so blindsighted by everything else that we would never lose faith."
I don't think so. That would only be true in an extreme case of actual brainwasing; religious ideas are simply imposed on innocent children. It isn't brainwashing.

Answer 6

I think most of the brainwashing claims apply to all religious people. Most Christians (and all other religious adherents) are indoctrinated in the religion from birth, never exposed to alternative theories or allowed to investigate fully all of the options before determining what they believe. They grew up in the religion, their society reinforced it, and they've had little opportunity to stop, think it over logically, and make an honest decision.

Even those who claim to have been born again typically limit themselves to a choice of their birth religion and no religion. Just look at the questions in here. So many people who simply accept the writings in an old book because the book tells them that they have to accept it and others who believe solely because they fear what will happen to them if they are wrong.

Minimal critical thinking after a lifetime of indoctrination in a specific belief system sounds a lot like brainwashing.

Answer 7

It's a stereotype. Some religious groups do "brainwash" their followers, but not all. I get so mad when I'm called brainwashed. People don't even bother fo find out who I am and the way I understand the world, they just immediately write me off because of my religion. (Some people...this has hardly ever happened to me in "real life" but it's happened on here quite a bit.)

It IS an ignorant statement to make, it assumes a knowledge of the minds and thought process of all Christians.

Also one thing I've noticed on this board is that a lot of people build up Christianity as a straw man. They think it is something that it absolutely is not, and word it in the most ridiculous ways.

Answer 8

I hope this helps. Yesterday I was sitting behind a car with a christian fish on it and two other "christian" cars passed and I started thinking, just being stunned, with how "weird" it all was. That I was living in this time. In this culture. What will they think about us in 500 years - that the majority of the people in my country believed in this. Try to look at it objectively. Would you believe in something like this, if you hadn't been taught it from birth?

A super being in the sky has to punish all of humanity, eternally because two people ate some fruit they weren't supposed to. That invisible beings (angels) exist and come and do little things for us. That this super being sent his kid to earth, and he was Perfect In Every Way, and somehow by believing this, the super being doesn't have to punish us for our great-great-grandparents eating that fruit AND once a month (or once a week, depending) we are supposed to eat the body and drink the blood of this kid (either symbollically or real, again, depending). The more you look at it, objectively, the weirder it sounds. If you weren't trained that way you'd not buy it in a million years. Thus, "brainwashing"

Answer 9

Brainwashed is not being forced to believe something, but rather being fed a load of garbage that sets you up to think along certain lines. Like the bible was written by people who actually walked and talked with Jesus. That the bible was written from gods word and not taken from dozens of different cultures, as it was, and then changed to fit the needs of the political situation, as it was. That is why we think christians are brainwashed, because you actually believe what your tent preacher says.

Answer 10

I can't speak for others, but when I say brainwashed, I mean specifically that you hold beliefs that were given to you without conducting an investigation of those beliefs taking into account the beliefs of others, not because you are unable to, but because you have been conditioned not to do so. If this is not the case, then why don't christians ever ask Jews what are the reasons that they say Jesus couldn't be the Messiah?

Answer 11

Children are told practically since birth that the Judeo-Christian deity exists and should be worshiped and obeyed. This is repeated and emphasized and never questioned. When you say that "Christians are tested by God", that's the brainwashing already at work. You need to be of the absolute Christian mentality to think that you are being tested by Yahweh, the deity you've been conditioned since infancy to believe exists.