Research

There's an ongoing research project and survey for ex-SDAs by Elon University, a private non-SDA university. The survey is now closed and results are being made available.

"We find that Christian nationalism and biblical literalism independently predict conspiracy thinking, but that the effect of Christian nationalism increases with literalism."

The BITE Model describes the methods that cults and high control groups use to recruit and maintain their control over people. “BITE” stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control. If you're an ex-Adventist, you'll probably resonate with this.

Moralizing gods are fairly rare in human history, despite some of the biggest religions today worshiping big, moralizing gods. The Big Gods Hypothesis questions whether these "big gods" helped societies grow large, and the data from the research referenced here addresses that question.

"The largest increases in social complexity do indeed precede Big Gods in world history and ...Big Gods did not contribute to the evolution of sociopolitical complexity as predicted by the Big Gods hypothesis."