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SquirrelInHell comments on Consider having sparse insides - Less Wrong
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One of my friends, whose meta beliefs about religion etc. match pretty closely with mine, goes on calling herself "Christian". There's literally nothing Christian about her, just the label.
And it works.
She is getting all the social benefits of actually being Christian, without believing any of the bullshit.
This blows my mind, and yet it is how social groups work.
How literally nothing Christian about her?
It seems to me that adopting the label is something Christian. If she goes to church, that's something Christian. If she actively seeks out Christians to associate with, that's something Christian. If she (at least in some contexts) says Christian prayers, creeds, etc., that's something Christian.
(I don't see how just calling yourself Christian would get you any social benefits to speak of, which is why I suspect there may be more.)
Of these activities you mention, I think she only seeks out and enjoys the company of some Christian groups. But if only this is enough, than Christianity is reduced to "generic group membership" - this is what I meant originally.
Not necessarily. One might sincerely believe in the core values promoted by Christianity (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) without being a biblical literalist. Christianity includes a wide spectrum of views, not only what how some people define it, which might even be just a parody of Christianity.
To summarize it, I don't know her so I cannot judge whether she's just lying for a social benefit or not, but I find it plausible that she might not be lying, or might not behave like this solely as a facade for a social benefit.
Also, I suspect that SquirrellnHell's friend probably has more respect for Christianity than SquirrellnHell does, even if she does not manifest that additional respect in the context of conversations between them (when she might be motivated to match SquirrellnHell's own attitude more closely.)
Likely true. Thanks for pointing it out.