On this Halloween there are Christian forces out there warning against demons, since they apparently believe demons are real. For their definitions of “believe” and “real.” Which are not the same definitions that reality-based people use. My understanding of this distinction has become clarified in recent weeks.
Here is a point I’ve made before: religious people are more persuaded by conspiracy theories than others. Because religious people do not have an anchor in reality. They “believe” things that are not plausible given humanity’s understanding of the real world, built up over recent centuries. They believe in all sorts of outrageous myths, as long as it’s old enough. They are not part of the “reality-based community,” or adhere to Jonathan Rauch’s “Constitution of Knowledge,” either in government, or in science. This article makes this point precisely.
Salon, Amanda Marcotte, 31 Oct 2023: Mike Johnson’s Satanic panic: How evangelical delusions trained Republicans to love Trump’s lies, subtitled “If you believe Noah’s ark was real and demons come out of the TV, it’s just a small jump to embrace the Big Lie”
