Why we think Manichean

January 23, 2026

Eugene Doyle is on the money with the outing of Manichean thinking. But why is it so prevalent and so unchallenged? “Born Bad” by James Boyce traces the influence of Manicheanism on Augustine and so on the western world via the notion of Original Sin. Augustine won the theological politics of the day over Pelagius. A win for a conservative, controlling church and the rest is a western world history believing as a matter of faith that “all descendants of Adam must be regarded as being of a ‘perverted’ or ‘depraved’ nature”. Boyce traces this corrosive, destructive doctrine throughout western history and exposes the enormous damage it has done. and continues to do.

Conservative controllers love the simple goodies and baddies split. If you can create a civil war inside the individual you weaken the person. Then you offer them a faith based dogmatic way out.