by Charles Barnard
“Ukraine: Apparent War Crimes in Russia Controlled Areas,” was the first headline to pop up with a Google search of Russia war crimes Ukraine. That was a headline by Human Rights Watch. The next headline read, “Can Russia Be Held Accountable for War Crimes in Ukraine?” That headline came from the Council on Foreign Relations. There is increasing evidence that Russian soldiers have been committing war crimes while brutalizing the Ukrainian civilian population. All this brings to mind the famous experiments done in the 1960s by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with these experiments, Dr. Milgram wondered about the conflict between obedience and personal conscience in light of the atrocities committed by the Nazis in World War II. To learn how obedient humans can become even in the face of moral conflict, Milgram devised an experiment. He selected subjects who were going to be “teacher” and “learner.” The learners and the lead teacher were actually part of Milgram’s team and the selected “teachers” were the true participants in the study. These teachers were to administer electric shock in varying levels when a “learner” got an answer to a question from the lead “teacher” wrong. The level of shock was increased with each wrong answer. Dr. Milgram wanted to learn how far the participants would go. The highest level was supposedly 450 volts or extreme danger. The teacher administering the shock was aware of the varying levels of shock they were being asked to apply.
If the participant teacher did not obey, there were for prompts used. Please continue. The experiment requires you to continue. It is absolutely essential that you continue. You have no other choice but to continue. The results showed that 65% of the participants were obedient to the highest level of shock, 450 volts, and 100% were obedient to 300 volts. Milgram did other variations of the experiment. Of all the different psychological implications of this experiment, I want to focus on two: fear and faith.
What role do faith and fear play in obedience or its converse disobedience? Exactly how fear and faith interplay in obedience or disobedience is important for us to contemplate because fear is used to control people and faith has long been a guard against fear as a weapon. Fear can be rational or irrational. In Milgram’s experiment, it was irrational. There was no rational reason for the participants to fear any harm to their personal well-being. The participants likely imagined harm that caused them to be obedient even while knowing their direct actions were causing pain in another individual. Simply put, the fear of the imagined consequences of disobedience was greater than any pain associated with administering the shock to an innocent “participant” in an experiment.
Faith on the other hand can play a different role. Faith in institutions and “trusted” people can also lead to obedience. You have faith that professors, doctors, lawyers, government officials or other people of authority or prestige would behave in a manner that is morally and ethically sound. When the evidence that they are not acting in accordance with what you believe to be ethical or moral surpasses this intangible faith you have in them or their title, you may be more willing to become disobedient. Of course, fear could then play a role. If the fear of disobedience is greater you still may continue to be obedient.
Faith also has the connotation of belief in a higher moral authority. A belief in God could absolutely play an important role in the level of obedience. At play in this faith is your relative fear of God or the consequences of disobeying God’s commands versus man’s commands. Faith at this level is still about obedience, but the obedience to God or this higher moral authority becomes dominant.
The fact that 100% of the participants were willing to inflict pain on a subject simply because an authority figure requested up to what they knew was at least 300 volts and only 35% stopped at some point beyond that is quite telling. It shows the power of fear. As we look at atrocities that are apparently happening in Ukraine and think about genocides that have occurred throughout history the importance of being able to control fear and develop a “personal stand” built on faith becomes obvious. While genuine religious faith cannot be forced on any population, genuine religious faith may hold the key to overcoming the negative impact of fear – both real and imagined.
As I have written numerous times before, the Christian view is perfect love casts out fear. Christians argue that God is that perfect love so from the Christian worldview a genuine faith in God is the solution to controlling fear. That certainly helps to explain martyrdom. The ability of people of faith – any faith – to withstand unspeakable pain and suffering at the hands of an enemy, even to the point of death speaks to the power of faith and love to overcome fear and pain. When you work to build into your life the character traits that are associated with love and faithfulness, you are equipping yourself to be a warrior and conqueror of fear. If you add to that a strong faith, you are well on your way to being prepared to combat fear in all of its manifestations. It is a lifelong pursuit and one where it is probably impossible to attain the goal of full connection and access to the emotion of perfect or pure love.
The implications of all of this have been thrust onto the public stage over the past two years. The implications of Milgram’s experiment and this fear and faith interaction played a role in the actions (or lack of action) of the three police officers who were at the scene when George Floyd was killed by a fellow officer. It was also significantly at play in the actions of governments and the obedience of people when for the first time in human history our response to a virus was to quarantine healthy people and take great steps in limiting individual freedoms. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide complied because of the fear that not being obedient would lead to the severe illness and or death of millions across the globe. Even people of faith followed the mandates which at the height of the pandemic in most jurisdictions banned face to face religious worship. Fascinating, especially when considering the reverence we have given in this country for over 200 years to the freedom of worship. Fear was used to control speech. Fear that people would become misinformed and be persuaded by the lies of nefarious groups that would lead to the spread of the virus or maybe the spread of a “harmful” idea. When love is spread, truth is spread. One of the characteristics of perfect love is people who “rejoice in the truth.” Truth is a powerful weapon against fear and is paramount in a person’s faith.
People who have unshakeable faith believe wholeheartedly in their worldview. They are congruent in their belief and their actions are aligned with those beliefs. It becomes very important to investigate your own beliefs around four key questions. Where did life come from? Why are their humans? What is right and wrong and according to whom? What happens when I die? You have answers to those questions established in your mind. Your worldview is shaped by those answers and your faith will be shaped by those answers. In my experience, many people in this country are becoming conflicted with their answers. They do not fully believe what they think they believe and thus they feel conflicted or often guilty about how they lead their life. They justify their actions to try to appease these feelings. Fear plays a role in this. Our popular culture and educational systems play significant roles in this. A weak faith often comes from this unsurety between what people say they believe and what their actions say they believe. Their faith is weak.
It is possible to have unshakeable faith that has been built on a lie. You could build your faith around one of these worldviews, but it is important to know that all the possible answers to those four fundamental questions cannot all be true. For your personal faith and your ability to have something you stand for even in the face of great trials and tribulations, you need to believe that what you believe is really real – even if it isn’t. If it really is true well.. I will let all of you fill in the rest.
