What’s new about that? That looks like the same old stuff Muslim apologists have been spinning for a hundred years or more.

But certainly, if someone wants to analyze and discuss those videos in the course and seek advice on how best to respond to them, that is exactly the sort of thing this course is for and that we do in it.

Thanks

I think you are quite right. About all of that. I have some acquaintance with literature on this but it’s not something I’ve focused on a lot. Others have though.

The practice of churches hiring anthropologists to school their missionaries in messaging and marketing, for example, is real and discussed with examples by anthropologist of religion David Eller in The Christian Delusion (his chapter on “The Cultures of Christianities”). There are other books by various experts exploring other ways the science of marketing has affected modern Christianity. Valerie Tarico’s chapter in that same book is also somewhat apposite, as is Jason Long’s, both on the psychology of religion.

But most of what you are seeing is not so deliberate; but rather cultural Darwinism: the churches that come up with effective marketing and messaging become successful in result and thus are the ones you see most often (whereas the ones that fail at this shrink and die out, so you rarely notice them). This fact is well explored by sociologists of religion Roger Finke and Rodney Stark in The Churching of America.

I’m curious if you’ve done any extensive research and possibly writings on the psychology of religion. And by that I not only mean why people believe what they believe (which is already discussed in the course of God existence type of arguments and discussions) but also the psychology of specific religious dogmatic texts.

For example the while point of the story of the “original sin” (Adam and Eve) is to try get God off the hook and place complete and sole blame all of man’s misfortunes squarely on the shoulder’s of man.
Of course pastors will never position it that way.

I’m convinced that there is a lot of what I would call CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY at play with respect to what we hear from pastors and religious leaders about the PRODUCT that they are pushing.

What I’m saying is that they have a necessary motive and inherent bias as they assess and promote their product (which just happens to be their particular religion). So for example when a Christian leader says “Christianity is not a religion, it is a personal relationship with Jesus”, that is essentially a product positioning statement of the company (church) to attempt to brand their product image in such a way that better appeals to their customer and separates them from other religious institutions.

And to be clear my above use of the terms “consumer”, “product”, and “company” are not to insinuate that the goal and motives of most religious institutions is money. I don’t actually believe that is the case and roll my eyes when some lazy minded Atheists try to characterize religious institutions that way as a whole. Indeed for every mega church leader that has made a personal fortune there are thousands of other small churches that just barely get by and (regardless of whether we agree with their beliefs or doctrine) it would be more accurate to describe what they do as a labor of love (even if we think the ultimate outcome of their product is more detrimental than useful).

But having said that churches have experimented and used various forms of psychology to persuade their members to tithe. Some take the guilt approach – “You’re stealing from God”, some take the greed approach “citing the verse where God says to test him in this way and he will surely reward you, some take the plea for compassion approach (money used to help the people that are starving physically and spiritually), and yet other try to use reverse psychology, asking you to ask God how much he would like for you to give (conveniently taking them out of the picture of being the one pressuring you.
My point being is that with any company trying to push their product their is always some psychology at play with respect to their strategy in convincing you that you need their particular product and then somehow prying you from their money (even if the accumulation of money is not their ultimate goal).

One last example I would like to share. I once met a guy that attended one of the largest Baptists churches in the country. He explained to me that during one of the services every week (they have several) his job was to be one of the first people to walk down to the front of the church at the end of the service (for alter call). The thought here was that people tend to not want to be the first to walk down (waiting for someone else to go first) so he was essentially a plant to help their prospective consumers (what I would call them) to make a purchasing decision (what I’ll call it).
That is without question consumer psychology at play.

The more obvious other examples are the mood setting and motivating music that you hear throughout the service. They are used withe intention to augment the message in a way that is not too different from your typical commercial or infomercial.

Consumer psychology at play.