18. Cognitive Dissonance

You ever met someone who believes in a loving, all-powerful God… but also believes that most of humanity is going to burn forever? Or someone who preaches humility but drives a car that sounds like it runs on ego and Red Bull? Welcome to the psychological Olympics: cognitive dissonance.

It’s that moment when your brain tries to hold two contradictory beliefs and pretend they’re best friends. Like “God is love” and “But also he drowned everyone once. Babies too. For character development.”

Cognitive dissonance is what happens when you feel like something is true, but see evidence that says otherwise—and instead of adjusting, your mind goes into overdrive to make it all fit. Like trying to squeeze a hippo into skinny jeans and calling it “faith.”

Religion: A Petri Dish of Dissonance

Religious belief systems are often loaded with absolute claims—God is good, the holy book is infallible, the clergy are chosen, etc. And life? Life is messy. Which means dissonance is basically built into the package. Like that one uncle who shows up uninvited—if you’re religious, it’s already sitting at the table.

Say you pray for healing, but your loved one dies. Dissonance.

You believe in divine justice, but watch corrupt leaders thrive. Dissonance.

You were taught your religion is “the one true way,” but then you meet someone from another religion who’s kinder, wiser, and—oh no—they rescue puppies in their free time.

The tension builds. And humans hate tension. So what do we do?

Option A: Twist the Belief to Fit the World

“Well, it’s all part of God’s plan.”

“He works in mysterious ways.”

“This suffering is a test.”

You’ll start using religious language like bubble wrap to soften the harsh edges of reality. Because the alternative—reconsidering your beliefs—is like handing your ego a sledgehammer.

Option B: Twist the World to Fit the Belief

Suddenly, every bad thing is Satan’s fault. Every atheist is “angry at God.” Every scientific discovery is “just a theory.” You begin to filter the entire world through a lens that protects your original belief—even if it means denying plain facts.

You’re not thinking critically; you’re patching holes in a leaky worldview using duct tape and denial.

Cognitive Dissonance Has Survival Value (Unfortunately)

From an evolutionary standpoint, dissonance helped us survive in groups. If your tribe believed dancing around a fire kept tigers away, it was safer to join the dance than to be the guy saying, “You know, I think this is just correlation, not causation.”

So we learned to override conflicting evidence for the sake of harmony. That same instinct now plays out in modern religion—only instead of tigers, it’s theology.

But Wait—Is This a Criticism or an Explanation?

Both, kind of. Understanding dissonance doesn’t mean all religious belief is invalid. It just means: be aware. If you’re defending a belief so hard you’re doing cartwheels around logic, maybe, just maybe, it’s time to check if you’re holding onto the belief—or if it’s holding onto you.

Beliefs should help you live better, not give you chronic migraines from mental acrobatics.

So What Can You Do With Dissonance?

1. Notice it. That tight feeling in your gut when your beliefs don’t match what you’re seeing? That’s not the devil—it’s data.
2. Pause. You don’t have to fix it instantly. You can just let it sit.
3. Reflect. Ask: “Am I avoiding something uncomfortable because it threatens my identity?”
4. Adjust or Accept. You can either update your beliefs or acknowledge the contradiction. Either way, you’re growing.

Cognitive dissonance isn’t a bug—it’s a feature of being human. But when it’s left unchecked, especially in religion, it can turn beautiful beliefs into brittle dogmas. Faith shouldn’t feel like emotional blackmail.

If your beliefs need to threaten hell to be followed, maybe the real devil is in the dissonance.