Why are Religion & Fascism rising? Two faces of the same psychological/neural process.
They’re far more intertwined, and dangerous, than you might have ever believed.
SARS-CoV-2-induced frontal lobe (brain) damage makes both more likely.
A neurologist’s explanation 🧵
1/17
They’re far more intertwined, and dangerous, than you might have ever believed.
SARS-CoV-2-induced frontal lobe (brain) damage makes both more likely.
A neurologist’s explanation 🧵
1/17
Religion and authoritarianism share the same psychological architecture: submission to authority, suppression of doubt, and moral outsourcing.
Both dissolve individual responsibility and reward conformity over critical thought.
And both are on the rise, simultaneously.
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Both dissolve individual responsibility and reward conformity over critical thought.
And both are on the rise, simultaneously.
2/
It’s no coincidence that the far right movement in the US is also deeply religious.
MAGA’s fusion of politics and evangelicalism isn’t accidental, it’s the merging of two cultic structures that thrive on fear, obedience and moral absolutism.
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MAGA’s fusion of politics and evangelicalism isn’t accidental, it’s the merging of two cultic structures that thrive on fear, obedience and moral absolutism.
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When people’s cognitive control weakens: from chronic stress, trauma, or disease… they become more suggestible, more tribal, more desperate for order.
Complex truth feels unbearable; simple dogma feels safe.
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Complex truth feels unbearable; simple dogma feels safe.
4/
COVID didn’t just reshape public health, it reshaped minds.
Repeated infections damage brain regions involved in reasoning, empathy, and moral judgment.
That’s a perfect storm for mass regression into authoritarian and fundamentalist thinking.
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Repeated infections damage brain regions involved in reasoning, empathy, and moral judgment.
That’s a perfect storm for mass regression into authoritarian and fundamentalist thinking.
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Repeated infections, even if mild or asymptomatic, accumulate damage.
Brain scans, cognitive testing, and neuropathology studies all show loss of grey matter, synapse disruption, and subtle cognitive decline.
Fourth image credit: @DaniBeckman
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Brain scans, cognitive testing, and neuropathology studies all show loss of grey matter, synapse disruption, and subtle cognitive decline.
Fourth image credit: @DaniBeckman
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The frontal lobe is what keeps us socially calibrated.
Damage here doesn’t just make someone “forgetful”, it erodes compassion & foresight.
It removes the internal brakes which prevent us engaging in inappropriate or reckless behaviour.
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Damage here doesn’t just make someone “forgetful”, it erodes compassion & foresight.
It removes the internal brakes which prevent us engaging in inappropriate or reckless behaviour.
7/
Consider that the largest Covid waves coincided with visible shifts in social cohesion, political aggression and tribalistic behaviour.
Denial, scapegoating, and polarisation intensified as infections spread.
8/
Denial, scapegoating, and polarisation intensified as infections spread.
8/
Religion offers the illusion of stability and moral certainty when a population is neurologically and psychologically fraying.
It’s not “faith returning”, it’s a symptom of a deeper societal injury.
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It’s not “faith returning”, it’s a symptom of a deeper societal injury.
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Fascism, authoritarianism, and religion all speak the same language: “Don’t think. Obey.”
And in an age of cognitive decline, that message finds an ever increasing fertile audience.
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And in an age of cognitive decline, that message finds an ever increasing fertile audience.
10/
Authoritarianism and religion don’t uplift societies in crisis, they pacify them.
They channel fear and confusion into obedience, ensuring the system survives while the individual’s capacity for truth and empathy withers.
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They channel fear and confusion into obedience, ensuring the system survives while the individual’s capacity for truth and empathy withers.
11/
The danger isn’t just political; it’s moral and civilisational.
A society that loses its capacity for critical thought drifts toward myth, cruelty and superstition.
History shows that when cognition falters, the priest and the tyrant return together.
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A society that loses its capacity for critical thought drifts toward myth, cruelty and superstition.
History shows that when cognition falters, the priest and the tyrant return together.
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We’re watching the collapse of rational moral agency in real time.
Resisting it means defending reason, compassion, and evidence… not just as ideals, but as acts of moral defiance in a world sliding backward.
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Resisting it means defending reason, compassion, and evidence… not just as ideals, but as acts of moral defiance in a world sliding backward.
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Yes, socioeconomic/cultural/political factors exist
But pretending Covid’s neurological impacts are irrelevant while pointing only to ideology is intellectually lazy
Compare pre-2020 to today. Look at leadership, empathy, collective behaviour. The patterns are accelerating
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But pretending Covid’s neurological impacts are irrelevant while pointing only to ideology is intellectually lazy
Compare pre-2020 to today. Look at leadership, empathy, collective behaviour. The patterns are accelerating
14/
Denying COVID’s ongoing harm isn’t just ignorance, it’s part of the same cognitive and moral collapse.
When reality becomes unbearable, people retreat into comforting lies.
Whether those lies wear the language of “faith”, “freedom” or “normality”
15/
When reality becomes unbearable, people retreat into comforting lies.
Whether those lies wear the language of “faith”, “freedom” or “normality”
15/
The takeaway: widespread neurological harm is reshaping society.
Public health inaction isn’t neutral. It accelerates decay in empathy, foresight, and moral judgment… feeding the very authoritarianism and disorder people claim to oppose.
16/
Public health inaction isn’t neutral. It accelerates decay in empathy, foresight, and moral judgment… feeding the very authoritarianism and disorder people claim to oppose.
16/
Staying reality-anchored, acknowledging the neurological, social, and moral damage of this pandemic… is now an act of resistance.
In an era of mass denial, truth itself has become revolutionary.
END
17/17
In an era of mass denial, truth itself has become revolutionary.
END
17/17
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