I enjoyed the article. Cult attachment is obviously not an informed choice. But judging from my own experience I think there is something more fundamental at work.
I have seven siblings. Two of those siblings are extremely religious and have been so all their lives. Their play as children was always religious play, they were not interested in doing what i considered normal kid things. Two other siblings are like myself, we recognize woo when we see it and have no attraction to it whatsoever.
But what is most interesting is that we all had an identical religious upbringing, lived in the same family all our lives, went to the same schools and church, etc. Everything was the same yet some developed deep attachments to a cult and others did not.
There is obviously something very genetically and therefore physically different between those siblings that must account for the very different behaviors despite identical exposure and upbringing. It is obviously true that all other things being equal the argument in your article is accurate. Those nascent genetic inequalities, those differences, appear to be more important imho than what may happen later wrt cult indoctrination.
I can relate to this. I have two sisters and only one of them still identifies as a Christian. From what she's been willing to tell me, she isn't as much a conservative Christian as our parents were. My sister has always suffered from a lot of guilt and I think that may be why she has never been able to consider leaving religion. She seems to have found a church that she likes, so whatever works for her is fine with me.
Our parents were both converts to evangelical Christianity when I was about 4 years old. Apparently, first my mom fell for the idea that if she believed like the church told her to, she would be saved from eternal damnation. She preached to my father relentlessly and he eventually went to church with her and also fell for it. Their entire social life was related to their religion. My life as a child was much worse after my parents became religious. I believed as a child, but I always had problems wondering how an all loving god would send people to hell, even good people who simply didn't believe that Jesus was their savior, as well as people in parts of the world who never even heard of the Christian beliefs. When I asked about that, I never received an answer, other than god knows better than we do.
I became Baptized when I was about 8, thinking that maybe that would strengthen my beliefs. It was always hard thinking that my Catholic and Jewish friends were going to be damned to hell. But, it was being around conservative Christians in a Christian college that finally helped me leave Christianity and search for something more realistic and less horrific. Eventually, I realized that all religion was based on mythology and I became an atheist with humanist tendencies. I finally felt free from my childhood indoctrination.
My other sister left Christianity after seeing what was going on in her daughter's conservative Christian school. She adopted some sort of paganish beliefs and still believes in an afterlife, as fas as I know, as long as her dogs will be there with her. Humans are attracted to mythology regardless of the type. I think Joseph Campbell had that right.
I think a lot of what brings people to Christianity is the strong emotional appeal. I was taken to the Billy Graham Crusades in New York City as a young child. I can still remember the lights being lowered, the choir softly singing in the background as Graham tried to persuade people to come forward to be saved. Many of them seemed to be desperate people looking for a better life.
One other thing that attracts people to religion is the need to have a sense of community with others who accept them as they are. That is something that atheists aren't very good at. People need community and we atheists, even secular humanists aren't very good at holding our communities together. Perhaps most of us are introverts and that's the problem. I've been a member of numerous real life Freethought groups and it's always hard to herd us cats. Atlanta had a Humanist group for many years, but we lived so far apart from each other, that eventually the group disbanded. Atlanta Freethought is still around, but it's difficult for us to travel there at our age. We've had a small group in my town for over 10 years, but sometimes there are only 3 or 4 of us who meetup once a month. People usually need more community that we can offer. Religion offers that.
One more thing about community. When I was working as a nurse in long term care, one of my patients was a JW. She was a bit strange and most of the staff didn't have patience dealing with her. I tried to treat all of my patients equally, so I asked her how she became a JW. Her eyes lit up and she told me that she and her late sister had joined together. I used to say that if it weren't for the JWs, little Oda wouldn't have a friend in the world. So, let's not forget that it's not just brainwashing, it's the longing to be around others that often draws people to religion. Sure, it's false hope, but religion does give people hope and purpose in their lives.
Plus, moderate and liberal churches tend to do a lot of charity. The Methodist church on the corner of my street volunteered to be a shelter for victims of the tornado we had here in January. That church does a lot of charity work. In fact, my own atheist husband once joined them for a charity walk. I knew a member who was very accepting of my atheism. I've also met three atheist Methodists who loved their church communities, despite realizing the Christian beliefs were myths.
I disagree bout liberal Christians. I see them as one step away from atheists. They just enjoy embracing some aspects of the Christian mythology while still being pretty rational. It may be cultural as much as anything. The same goes for most of my Black Christian friends. They may have strong beliefs, but to them, their churches are also provide community and solace from racist views. The Black church was the headquarters for the civil rights movement in the 1960s as well. Those closest to me agree that character and values are far more important than religion.
I can be an atheist without making generalizations about those who find beauty in their myths. Sometimes religious beliefs are the result of brainwashing but they are often just part of local culture. I know many non practicing Christians too. They hold to some of the Christian beliefs without participating in the more formal aspects of religion.
