What happens when beliefs collide with behaviors? Religion gives people the rules to live by, but when those rules are broken, the result is called hypocrisy, and with it, the mental strain of cognitive dissonance.
Religion can be a wonderful thing for a lot of different people. It brings communities together, it can instill morals and good behaviors in children, and it provides the guidelines for how to live a healthy and happy life. Organized religion often has core tenets, and they’re generally familiar or in the same ballpark as each other. Examples are to be good to your neighbors, don’t hurt other people, avoid stealing, things like that are commonplace in most religions. This is great, because it gives a large population of people an easy-to-follow idea to enhance their lives and the lives of the people around them.
Radicalization can also occur within organized religion. Certainly, the more violent sects of these groups are often shunned by the population at large. These radicals are heavily monitored and are often fought against by governments or other militant groups.
So, as we can see, religion can be both good and bad. I am not suggesting that this should be changed, because everything in life, and indeed the universe, requires balance. We cannot have a shining light example without a paragon of darkness. The front of the coin must have a back, and so on. The more we try to change and push out the fringes of life the more the pendulum will eventually swing back the other way.
Likewise, I am not suggesting that people stop fighting against the violent radical groups or stop protecting themselves, again, that is part of balance. I am hoping that we can deepen our understanding of what balance is, and how we can rest our minds by understanding this. Especially if you’re one of the people that is fighting, or helping to fight, against violent radicals. This mindset of balance is greatly important to you, because once you understand that you are a part of the balance, then the sooner you can rest your mind. You can still fight for what you believe in, because when you learn that the opposition is doing the same, you can carry on focused and determined with a solid understanding of the situation you’re in.
Let’s back away from this fighting example, because most people are not engaged in such matters, but I wanted to highlight this idea because it’s on the extreme end of things, and the mantra still applies. Once we deepen our understanding, we lower our anxiety.
Hypocrisy Creates Cognitive Dissonance
What does this mean? When folks are members of a religious organization, the religion provides clear boundaries and rules. The congregation or group of people belonging to the religion are devout followers of these rules and regulations. However, in life, for a variety of reasons, some of the people (probably most) end up breaking some of the rules or straying away from their holy-literature’s guidelines. Sometimes people will break some of the rules and follow other ones, picking and choosing which part of the sacred texts they want to really believe in.
A hypocrite is someone that pretends to be virtuous. They use their religious organization or other moral high ground as a facade, so they can manipulate those around them into getting what they want. Other times, a hypocrite is someone who states they hold beliefs but they don’t actually following the rules or teachings of their organization.
An example: I was a rule-challenger when I was growing up, and especially so when I was in undergraduate school. Some of these rules that I challenged, according to my friend’s mother, were against her religion and she took it upon herself to impose her religion on me. However, she broke several of the rules of her religion herself. So, when someone wields religion as a tool to proclaim that I’m doing something wrong, simply because they don’t like what I’m doing, when they themselves are doing something ‘wrong’ (according to her religion), then they’re a hypocrite.
This type of behavior creates cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance is “an unpleasant psychological state resulting from inconsistency between two or more elements in a cognitive system,” which typically motivates people to reduce the inconsistency (e.g., by changing beliefs or behavior). APA Dictionary
Reference: American Psychological Association. (2018). Cognitive dissonance. APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Why does the above behavior result in dissonance? It is because they’re trying to convince themselves of something they don’t truly believe in.
I’ll provide another example of this cognitive dissonance issue. Colloquially, people refer to life events as God’s Plan, as if everything happening around us was preordained by the almighty, and all of history and all of future events were previously dictated and are simply unfolding. There are some who truly believe this, and will act as though they cannot not do anything about it, because it’s already been determined. But then, a lot of those same folks will become extraordinarily upset when something bad happens; say a family member passes away, or a natural disaster strikes their house and they don’t have anywhere else to turn to. Instead of saying it’s God’s Plan when these tragedies befall them, they get upset and perhaps begin praying.
So, which is it? Is everything preordained, or are there some things that God can adjust based on how many prayers are received? If it’s the latter, which events are subject to prayers? Do you see my line of questioning here? If someone who labels themselves as religious or devout has these same questions that I do, e.g. Is God listening? or Is this God’s Plan? then that line of questioning is the cause of the dissonance.
Let me be clear on one thing: I am not attempting to dissuade anyone from any religion, on the contrary, I think religion has its place in the world and I am completely fine with people experiencing life how they see fit. My gripe with religion, and religious people in general, is when they attempt to oppress me or assert their dominance over my rights in the name of their religion, which is interesting, because the Bible talks about this and warns against it.
Jesus often criticized the Pharisees and religious leaders of His day for using religion as a tool of control:
“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:4, NIV).
Further, Jesus taught that spiritual leadership should be about humility and service, not domination:
“The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:11–12, NIV).
Be True to Yourself
This is the central message of this post, and the main takeaway: Be True to Yourself. If you believe in something, that is fantastic, and you should continue to believe it in and follow your convictions. However, I would suggest that you do not engage in behavior that will result in cognitive dissonance, because that will lead to anxiety and other psychological issues. This can occur even if you are subconsciously creating the dissonance, so be sure to evaluate what you believe in and make sure you’re aligned with that belief.
I would recommend you follow your beliefs, but do not push them onto other unwilling people. Those people have their own beliefs, and they’re entitled to them just as you are to yours. Regardless of religion, or any other dividing thought topic, we should strive to understand our fellow humans and to appreciate the balance of all things.
Ask yourself: are your beliefs and actions aligned, or are you carrying hidden dissonance? Feel free to use the comments section or visit our Forum.
So true. I have my beliefs, and I don’t always follow them. I don’t think it’s a good idea to persuade or influence anyone’s beliefs. What makes us unique is the sum of our choices, experiences and the perspectives we gain from them. 🙂