April 10, 2016

April 10, 2016

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Engineer

Dear Reader,

In “Religion as Schedule-Induced Behavior” (2009) Strand writes “Acquired religious behavior has in common with irreligious behavior that they are both operants. Unlike irreligious behavior,  acquired religious behavior originates from induced behavior.  Induced behavior serves as the minimal unit out of which acquired religious behavior arises.” Although Strand is not aware of the distinction between Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) and Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB), he tries to describe why acquired religious behavior, which he previously characterized as effortful, is yet still distinctively different from irreligious behavior. It is different as it is induced. 

This writer, who knows about the SVB/NVB distinction, reads Strand’s writing through the lens of this distinction. Instead of stating that “Induced behavior serves as the minimal unit out of which acquired religious behavior arises”, he wants the reader to know that although SVB and NVB are indeed induced verbal behaviors, they arise under completely different circumstances. This becomes more apparent when Strand illustrates “the relation between the two classes of religious behavior.” The “cliché” he uses that “speaks to the religion-inducing power” (italics added by this writer) of a situation, is: “in a foxhole, no one’s an atheist.” Anyone who knows about the SVB/NVB distinction immediately realizes that only this ‘so-called’ religious behavior, the verbal behavior that is elicited in a life-threatening situation, will be NVB. 

The person in a fox-hole may have a lot of SVB history, but this  hostile situation requires he fights for his life and kills others before he himself gets killed. He may have some SVB private speech praying he will survive, but a war-situation doesn’t and can’t evoke any SVB public speech. Soldiers kill each other since the communication has broken down. The notion that religious behavior can be arising from such total madness is deeply problematic. SVB can and will only occur in an environment which is free of aversive stimulation.  Thus, effortful NVB is NOT a religious behavior at all, but a behavior that is based on fear of not surviving, of not going to heaven or of not becoming enlightened.