Think your political views are permanent? New research shows that leaving religion doesn’t just change your weekend routine - it often pushes your politics left. This isn’t just people changing at the same time. The study found that walking away from faith actually comes before the political shift.
The Big Picture: People Are Leaving Religion
More Americans are ditching organized religion than ever before. We used to think religion and politics just reinforced each other in some endless loop. But this study tracked the same people over years and found something different. Leaving religion doesn’t just happen alongside political changes - it causes them.
When people abandon their religious upbringing, they start questioning lots of conservative views they used to hold. The researchers found clear evidence that deconversion makes people more liberal. It’s changing how we think about deeply held beliefs and whether they’re really that deep after all.
Why This Happens: Breaking Free from Rigid Thinking
What makes this study special is that it followed the same people over time instead of just taking snapshots. This method helps solve the chicken-and-egg problem of religion and politics. The results show that when people leave religious institutions, their political views don’t just drift - they actively move left.
Here’s what seems to happen: Organized religion often gives people a strict framework for understanding the world. This includes moral rules and social norms that usually line up with conservative positions on things like gender, sexuality, and personal freedom. When people step away from these frameworks, they often become more open-minded about social issues. They’re free from religious texts and church authority telling them what to think.
This freedom lets them take a more empathetic, less judgmental approach to social policy. For many, dropping religious dogma opens the door to more progressive views. For more on how politics affects our thinking, check out our previous piece on Your Brain on Authoritarianism: Politics Literally Rewires Neural Hardware.
The Bigger Impact: Changing Politics for Everyone
This leftward shift has huge implications. As more people leave religion, the traditional foundation of right-wing conservative politics starts cracking. This could change voting patterns, public debates, and even what kinds of candidates can win elections.
Look at today’s cultural fights over reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ issues. For people leaving faith, these conversations often sound completely different. They start favoring individual liberty and social justice over traditional moral codes.
This isn’t about right or wrong. It’s about a fundamental change in how people process information and decide what’s good for society. This process often leads to liberal positions on economic policy and social welfare. People start seeing the need for collective solutions instead of just individual responsibility or divine intervention.
Leaving religious structures can make people feel more civic duty and want to tackle social problems. This pushes them toward movements seeking systemic change. You can find more academic research on religion and progressive politics at the Wiley Online Library.
What This Means Going Forward
This research gives us a fascinating look at how personal faith and public policy connect. It suggests that as societies become less religious, we might see liberal social and political movements speed up. The psychological journey of leaving religion is deeply personal and challenging, but it has clear public consequences that could reshape politics for decades.
As the lines between religious belief and political ideology get blurrier, understanding this phenomenon becomes crucial for anyone trying to make sense of modern social changes. The data points to a future where individual spiritual choices increasingly shape our collective political destiny.
Sometimes the most politically radical thing you can do is simply decide what you don’t believe anymore. You can read the full research details at PsyPost.org.