忘却からの帰還〜Intelligent Design

米国の共和党支持者と民主党支持者の間には、社会問題・自然科学などについての見方に大きな違いがある。そして、それはイエス・キリストについての見方についても、同様だという研究が2012年1月に発表された：

A study led by Lee Ross of Stanford University in California has found that the Jesus of liberal Christians is very different from the one envisaged by conservatives. The researchers asked respondents to imagine what Jesus would have thought about contemporary issues such as taxation, immigration, same-sex marriage and abortion. Perhaps not surprisingly, Christian Republicans imagined a Jesus who tended to be against wealth redistribution, illegal immigrants, abortion and same-sex marriage; whereas the Jesus of Democrat-voting Christians would have had far more liberal opinions.

カリフォルニアのStanford UniversityのLee Rossが主導した研究で、リベラルなキリスト教徒のイエスは、保守なキリスト教徒が心に描くイエスと大きく違っていることがわかった。研究者たちは回答者たちに、税金や移民や同性婚や堕胎などの現代の問題についてイエスがどう考えるか質問した。おそらく、驚くことはないが、キリスト教徒の共和党支持者は、富の再配分や非合法移民や堕胎や同性婚に反対するイエスをイメージした。一方、民主党に投票するキリスト教徒は、はるかにリベラルな意見を持っていた。

[ Johnjoe McFadden: "One Jesus for liberals, another for conservatives" (2012/03/04) on The Guardian ]

とはいえ、イエス・キリストが保守と一致しない点、リベラルと一致しない点がある。そして、そのことを保守・リベラルとも認識はしている。

Yet both groups recognised that their own views were not always identical to those of Jesus. The researchers divided issues into those concerned with fellowship (wealth distribution, immigration), and those concerned with morality (gay rights, abortion). Conservatives envisaged a Jesus with views close to their own on morality issues; but they recognised that the man who gave all his possessions to the poor would probably have advocated more progressive taxation policies than those of the Republican party. Conversely, liberals saw Jesus as having similar views as themselves on fellowship issues but they believed his views on gay rights would be to the right of their own.

しかし、保守・リベラルともに、自らの見方が、常にイエスの見方と一致しているわけではない。研究者は問題を共同体に関するもの（富の配分・移民）と倫理に関するもの（ゲイの権利・堕胎）に分けた。保守は自分たちの倫理問題についての見方に近いイエスをイメージした。しかし、彼らは、自らの持てる物を貧しき者たちに分け与えたイエスが、共和党よりも進歩的な税制を主張するだろうと認識していた。逆に、リベラルは共同体問題についてイエスが自分たちと同様の見方をするとイメージいたが、ゲイの権利についてのイエスの見方は、自分たちより右寄りだと考えていた。

この自分たちの見方と合わないイエス・キリストについて、保守・リベラルとも、次のように対処しているという...

The researchers discovered that conservatives believe Jesus would have prioritised the moral issues close to their own hearts, and that disparities in wealth or the treatment of illegal immigrants wouldn't have been high on his agenda. Liberals believed the opposite.

Ross and his colleagues suggest that dissonance reduction takes place not only within the individual, but as a collective enterprise. Preachers, politicians and co-believers tend to emphasise and de-emphasise different aspects of the Christian canon; so conservative Americans study the Old Testament with its homophobic rhetoric and eye-for-an-eye morality, whereas liberals look to the New Testament Jesus who was sympathetic to the poor and the meek.

研究者たちは、保守は、イエスが自分たちの考えに近い倫理問題を優先し、富の不平等や非合法移民の扱いについて重視していないと考え、リベラルはその逆であることを発見した。

Rossと共同研究者たちは、認知不協和の緩和は個人だけでなく、集団としても起きていると示唆した。説教師・政治家・信者はキリスト教規範の異なる面を強調する。保守的米国人は旧約聖書の同性愛嫌悪や目には目な倫理を学び、リベラルは新約聖書の、貧しき者や柔和な者に共感するイエスに目を向ける。

まさに...

The Bible may claim that God created man in his own image, but the study suggests man creates God in his own image.

聖書は神が自らに似姿に人間を創造したと主張しているが、研究は人間が神を自らの似姿に創造したことを示唆している。

なお、Abstractはこれ：

The present study explores the dramatic projection of one's own views onto those of Jesus among conservative and liberal American Christians. In a large-scale survey, the relevant views that each group attributed to a contemporary Jesus differed almost as much as their own views. Despite such dissonance-reducing projection, however, conservatives acknowledged the relevant discrepancy with regard to “fellowship” issues (e.g., taxation to reduce economic inequality and treatment of immigrants) and liberals acknowledged the relevant discrepancy with regard to “morality” issues (e.g., abortion and gay marriage). However, conservatives also claimed that a contemporary Jesus would be even more conservative than themselves on the former issues whereas liberals claimed that Jesus would be even more liberal than themselves on the latter issues. Further reducing potential dissonance, liberal and conservative Christians differed markedly in the types of issues they claimed to be more central to their faith. A concluding discussion considers the relationship between individual motivational processes and more social processes that may underlie the present findings, as well as implications for contemporary social and political conflict. ~
[ Lee Ross et al: "How Christians reconcile their personal political views and the teachings of their faith: Projection as a means of dissonance reduction", , doi: 10.1073/pnas.1117557109, PNAS January 30, 2012 ]

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