ABSTRACT
Daniel Bell articulated one of the clearest and most cogent discussions on ideology, in the author's opinion, in his important 1965 essay "Ideology and Soviet Politics". Bell acknowledges the "many ambiguous meanings and emotional colorations" associated with the term, as well as the power of ideologies to "somehow catch up one's passions and move people to action". Children represent a particular problem in fundamentalist Christian purity discourse as they are considered especially in need of guidance and spiritual protection from the corruptive influence of the secular world. As they cannot live an existence completely separate from the rest of the world, believers' response of offering alternate culture for their faith community is not a new phenomenon; religions often develop their own texts in response to the secular cultural contexts surrounding them. Social cognitive theorists argue that people for whom religious beliefs are very important often use heuristics to make quick and efficient assessments.
