Social pressure to profess belief masks the private religious doubt of authoritarians.

Evidence

Thus many High RWAs, raised all their lives to profess belief in God, and still under considerable pressure to “bear witness,” believe much less than they dare let on. But they have never revealed this. It takes a very special set of circumstances for them to speak the truth. But are there still other things about themselves that they cannot admit, even in these special circumstances? — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1799

Categorization

• SEED: The Secret Survey methodology itself is worth an essay: creating conditions where people can safely confess what they’d never admit to directly. Angle: how research design can uncover hidden beliefs through anonymity and indirect questioning.