FROM THE MANUSCRIPT
In the author’s words
That is the danger of fear-based religion. It can make a person appear saved while leaving them spiritually imprisoned. It can produce behavior without wisdom, confession without transformation, loyalty without understanding, and belief without love. It can make people defend God not because they know God, but because they are terrified of what will happen if the structure holding their fear together begins to crack. And once fear becomes the foundation of faith, questioning becomes dangerous. Not because truth is dangerous. Because the fear is. A person who has met God deeply can wrestle with questions. A person who has only inherited fear may feel like every question is a threat to their survival. They cannot examine the doctrine because the doctrine is holding their anxiety together. They cannot study the history because the history may complicate the story they were handed. They cannot listen to another religion because listening feels like betrayal. They cannot sit with uncertainty because uncertainty feels like hell opening beneath their feet. So they cling. They cling to certainty. They cling to simple answers. They cling to inherited language. They cling to the version of God that keeps them safe from the terror they were taught to feel. Then they call that clinging faith.
The God They Inherited, manuscript p. 398. Transcribed from the supplied manuscript; line breaks normalized.
The definition above is an editorial summary of this chapter, not a separately named theory or a claim of scientific proof.