How to Make Someone Believe in God (According to Science)

According to sociological and anthropological research, there are more effective ways to convince someone to believe in god than making arguments. Religious apologetics are demonstrably less effective than other forms of social influence like Credibility Enhancing Displays or trauma. Here I present the work of Dr. Joseph Henrich to teach you how to most effectively make converts.

Playlist that dives deeper into this subject (Religion for Breakfast vids):

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Dr Bart Ehrman courses (affiliate links):

“Other Virgin Births”:

“The Unknown Gospels”

“Did the Resurrection of Jesus Really Happen?”

“Did the Christmas Story Really Happen?”

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Playlist that dives deeper into this subject:

Research on CREDs

War predicts religiosity

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This video contains 100% therapeutic grade skepticism.*

*This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA

[danielcrawford]

It seems that during times when a society is collectively feeling intense emotions (i.e. rage, terror, and joy) the more likely it is going to believe in some kind of supernatural entity.

[calliemyersbuchanan]

Another researcher found that when a particular tribe fished in a more enclosed body of water (where the population of fish was higher and waters were calmer) there was little to no demonstration of religiosity involved whereas when they fished on the other side of their land in more open waters (with less fish and rougher waters) there was far more demonstration of religiosity. They concluded that religiosity correlated to the predictability of circumstance. The more one understands a situation and can reliably predict it's patterns of behavior and outcomes, the less likely they will appeal to supernatural forces. (TheraminTrees mentioned and cites it in one of his videos.)

[samneibauer]

I believe some sociologist with a glorious beard in the 1800s was known for saying, "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

You're absolutely right that it's a tool for coping with the horrors of this world, though it's ultimately an illusion.

[rationalityrules]

Judging from the thumbnail alone, fantastic idea for a video, my dude! Well played. The kalam won't make people theists, calamity will. This is a powerful insight with all sorts of ramifications.

[ekut]

Low-key I just watch this guy whenever I need to write essays because his word choice is very good and uses a large vocabulary that really gets me into the academic writing. great channel overall 8/10 at least

[allanflippin]

Drew,
Your discussion about missionary activity (people living in hardship being more easily converted) made me think about another benefit of missionary outreach. Consider the LDS church specifically. Their practice is to send young people as missionaries (18-25 typically). At that age, people naturally start to question the things that they've been taught during their childhood. Sending them to impoverished areas as missionaries would likely minimize this kind of questioning.
My point is that not only are people that live in hardship more likely to believe, but also young people temporarily sent to there will be more likely to retain their beliefs. That makes LDS missionary work a win-win situation (for the church).

[raylee]

I always heard that there's an invisible spiritual war, but I think I imagined it differently than my parents. Like I imagined that D-Day was happening 24/7 everywhere, demons heads were getting crushed and angels blown up, etc. But all imperceptible to mortal eyes

[jonr]

I started my deconversion when I learned that speaking in tongues meant actually human languages, and not whatever pentecostals do. If the Holy Spirit were real, my family would've known by now that what they're doing is not from the Spirit, and still they swear it is.
When I realized that my relatives' experiences were therefore invalid and not the product of divine intervention, I came to see the truth: it's all make-believe. I'd probably still be a Christian if I stuck myself in the echo chamber believing whatever those around me claimed God told them. Being surrounded by people that act like those things are legit can be pretty convincing.

[neimye]

I grinned a little when you used the word “convict” rather than “convince” people of your beliefs. Your fundamentalist background is showing! 😅 Funny how we even had our own vocabulary! Love your channel. You’ve helped me find my way through some difficult thinking. Thank you. From a former fundegelical MK.

[GodlessVoice]

Side note: there is a desire to know something that exists in humans to a level that, if the answer can't be obtained within a personally satisfying range, the human will begin creating answers and then see how they hold up. The human desire to know something often outreaches the human sense of reason. This often leads to looking for patterns that will point the direction to an answer despite not having the resources to understand a pattern in the first place. To the non-scientifically pragmatic, it leads to ritualism. To the scientifically pragmatic, it leads to hypothesis.

[religiologEng]

Altemeyer and Hunsberger (1999) in their studies of apostates and converts suggest that decisions to convert to religion often happens in bars or at funerals under the influence of emotions and other people, at the same time, the decision to abandon religion often happens in libraries over a long period of time and in isolation (loneliness) see pg 206.

[collindavid]

Thanks for your great work. My son (9) and I use your videos in our "atheist Sunday school" because I can count on your emphasis on compassion and communication. Well done, sir.

[khutjodiphofe]

My boyfriend of 8 months is a devout Christian (Catholic) and I am atheist. I grew up Christian but stopped practicing about five years ago. I made it clear to him from the beginning that he shouldn't expect that I will re-convert because my decision had taken many years of contemplation. I emphasized this because I know from my Christian background that preaching conversion is big. We seemed to be on the same page then. I have no issue being in a relationship with him as a Christian because I understand that some things that I subscribe to are not objectively true (e.g., democracy, and human rights).

He said he'd like me to come with him to mass on Sundays. I agreed because I figured giving up an hour or two of my Sundays for my love wouldn't be bad. I can bear the music and watching the cathedral art, but I find the sermons and rituals boring. I never admit this to him because I know these things are important to him and I'm not interested in persuading him to leave the faith. Aside from what I've explained our relationship is great! Is there any advice on how I can navigate around this or am I trying to have my cake and eat it?

[religiologEng]

This is great Drew! the conversion to religion is often social or emotional, however the de-conversion from religion is almost always a cognitive factor (not social or emotional). I like the analogy with a Microwave "causing radiation" (studies by Altemeyer and Hunsberger)

[zenkichihitoyoshi]

It should also be noted that war doesn't *always* increase religiosity, as in there are other factors that may influence the result. Look up what happened in the different parts of Germany and how religiosity changed during the years for example.

Thank you for the video; the argument is interesting and you are able to present it in a soothing manner

[seanleigh]

Never met someone trying to disprove Science who wasn't strengthening our understanding of psychology.

[tylerleemyles]

I think one way to convert someone to a religion is to date them. I nearly converted to Christianity while dating a Christian. This has a lot to do with existential security. When you are single and worried about staying that way forever, and your partner gives you a choice to be happily married to them and convert, or not, and you see other religious people who are married, stay married, and raise families, and you see all the secular people around you divorced and childless, that's a pretty strong psychological incentive to consider religion.

[Kalle]

In Europe, studies showed that the most explanatory statistical factor is up-growing religiously. So if someone was raised religiously as a child it is more probable that he is religious as an adult. In Eastern Germany which is one of the most secular parts of the world believe in God is seldom an option at all because only a few people were raised religiously.

As Norris/Inglehart mentioned that more existential security is linked up with less religiosity globally, we do not find this statistical correlation inside of societies.

[MisterItchy]

I simply do not understand how people can, on the one hand, thank their god for relief from pain while, on the other hand, not blame that same god for causing the pain. You get COVID and you recover from it then go on to thank your creator for healing you. Who let you get COVID in the first place?

[njhoepner]

I think the key to converting people to religion is to bypass the reasoning and get to the emotions. The things I was taught to do as a christian worked in that direction. The key to deconverting, it seems to me, is to set aside the emotions and reactivate the reasoning.