(Fe)ith

[TwistedAsura]

Before I start this discussion let me first and foremost say I am not trying to prove anything about religion. I really am not interested in who's wrong or right. This is purely for the sake of understanding.

Alright so we know the types that are strong in Fe. ENFJ ESFJ INFJ ISFJ. A thought popped into my mind while re reading gifts differing. We know that the function Fe's primary purpose is to maintain inner/outer harmony with the individual and the people they care about. Types with strong Fe though repress Ti in favor of this harmony.

We know that Ti is an inner judgmental function that absorbs information and makes inner decisions based on this information. Ti prefers to have knowledge based on something that can be proven to them. Something that they believe as fact. Usually once this fact is established it's very hard to unroot it.

What a lot of people tend to forget is that Ti is succeptible to subjective truths.
"subjective truth is a truth based off of a person's perspective, feelings, or opinions."
The less trained the Ti the more likely they are to believe or create subjective truths. The more trained the Ti the more likely they are going to want or need solid factual proof of something before adding it to their inner structure of facts.

This leads me to believe that the Fe dominate types are more likely to indulge in thing like faith. Especially if it is showered onto them in a non forcible way from a young age. Their first and foremost approach is to relate and find harmony with their surroundings. This can lead them to adopt things like religion without solid or physical proof easier than other types.

Dichotomously this is the same reason INTPs are famous for having among the highest amount of atheists associated with their type. Strongly trained Ti will refuse to add something to its inner structure without 100% proof that it is. This is not to say INTPs can't be religious they are just likely to need much more influencing to come to be religious.

Just a theory I thought I would share.


Another factor of Ti tends to be confirmation bias. This can then further enforce Ti based facts in the individual with Ti in their primary stack. It says even in gifts differing that Ti individuals prefer to ignore details that go against things they already believe to be fact.

 

[thepink-cloakedninja]

Maybe? But I think that all types are susceptible to believing false things whether about religion, politics, science, etc., etc. Fe-doms/aux alone can't be supporting psychics, astrology, alternative medicine, SETI, paranormality, and the like. Anyone can develop critical thinking skills and do their best to seek the truth. I'm a Fe-aux yet I am extremely careful about what I choose to believe. For example, in one of my classes we did a lesson on the vaccination controversy, and I found the evidence against vaccinations causing autism satisfactory, but just to be on the safe side I read three other books, a handful of scholarly peer-reviewed journals, and about 20 different .com/.org articles on vaccinations from as many sides of the argument as possible before coming to a decision, and while I've basically made up my mind about vaccinations causing mental disorders, I still have a few questions about vaccinations brewing in my mind that I still need to read about. I make sure to read widely from all sides of an argument about everything I can, so even though I was raised Christian and have a large store of scientific evidence for my faith, I still have books from the evolutionary standpoint on my reading list, and am reading one right now that's got a chapter against creationism (though I'm not sure how convincing it will be as so far most of the other topics the book has debunked has only attacked the weakest of arguments from the other sides when it should be focusing on the strong arguments ... it's been a good laugh though). Also, I'm prone to changing my mind about beliefs I was raised with. Most of my family is conservative and against things like drug legalization and I'm over here like "stop the war on drugs! It's useless!" I've also been raised to believe that global warming is hocus pocus and now that I'm reading more on the subject I'm definitely starting to switch my opinion around (still need to read a few more books on the topic first, though).

 

[TwistedAsura]

A strong and valid point. As a Fe aux user though, Especially an INFJ you are the least likely of the Fe dominant types to fall to subjective truths because of Nis relentless questioning of the world around it. On top of that the tertiary function is one that is usually developed into a healthy function in early mid life unlike the inferior function that can remain unhealthy until death if a person does not actively work alongside it.

Si-Fe or Fe-Si are usually the ones who are most likely to go in line with traditions and such.

 

[Korvinagor]

I think it might be more accurate to say that different functions will believe in things like faith for different reasons. Let me elaborate.

Ni: sees faith as an important component of their holistic vision
Ne: religion as something fascinating to explore and delve into, speculation of the unknown/unproven
Si: being brought up with it = sticking around
Se: it feels awe inspiring and good to do
Fe: the family would disapprove if they did not do so
Fi: they are perfectly okay with this belief that they are following - it fits them
Te: a faith to look up to makes for an incredibly effective motivator
Ti: believing in this sort of religion makes sense to them

And from that, all the functions can be equally sceptical for different reasons as well. To my mind, it's a matter of perspective.

 

[Yama]

I think age is also a factor. Younger people tend to be less religious, at least in my experience. None of the ISFJs I know (including myself) are religious, and we're all college-age. All of the older (50+) xSFJs in my family are, though.