All sin originates with subconscious forces, such as pride, jealousy, greed, etc. Awareness would end the sin, but insufficient abstract understanding buries sin below the level of awareness.

Christ substantiated this observable fact by describing a list of sins as coming from the deep recesses of the mind (Mat 15:19)(Mk 7:21).

The subconscious forces create irrational thought and behavior. The resulting assumptions contradict objective reality, and the behavior is nonconstructive.

Since corruption is highly prevalent, there is a high tendency in society and religion to rationalize away the sin and its subconscious origins. Atheists generally deny the existence of sin. Supposed believers often assume that sin is a quirk of God's rather than something in human minds.

Atonement is described as if it fixed a quirk in God's head. Supposedly, God forgave humans their sin because they killed Christ. Even if that were true, how does it correct subconscious minds? Persons who make those assumptions do not assume there is anything in subconscious minds related to sin.

Even worse, the inescapable forces of corruption coming out of corrupt minds are assumed to be virtues by the perpetrators. There is a psychological reason for this error. A positive reinforcement makes subconscious reactions feel necessary. The positive reinforcement for sin is power.

Because such forces are the same in all corrupt minds, the assumptions are similar for supposed believers and atheists. The supposed believers assume that the corruptions coming out of them are God's work. Similarly, atheists assume that their corruptions are a higher standard of intelligence and worth.

Usually, corrupt persons must keep such assumptions buried in their minds, because truth contradicts them. But sometimes they will try to promote the errors by saying such things as greed being necessary for creating an economy. In extreme cases, the sin is openly promoted as racism and even genocide, as the Nazis demonstrated. But society gradually learns that there is something wrong with such extreme corruptions.

A large part of religion is designed to rationalize subconscious corruptions instead of overcome them. The heresies of earlier times were designed for that purpose. The most basic heresy which underlies all others is gnosticism. It assumes that there is an esoteric knowledge which is superior to the open and accountable knowledge that generally exists. The esoteric knowledge is the assumption that the corruptions of thought and habits coming from the person's own mind are of greater value than truth and morality. The corruptions must stay somewhat concealed, because openness causes truth to prevail and demolish the corrupt assumptions.

Supposed believers often assume that the subconscious forces within them is what is meant by faith. This error is commonly observed as a rationalization of corruption being referred to as faith. When the contradictions are pointed out, the corrupters insist that faith is supposed to contradict rationality and is superior to rationality, so the contradictions and corruptions are supposedly virtues.

An advanced example of this line of reason is in the fundamentalist claim that "born again" persons produce the infallibility of the Holy Spirit. Their nonsense and contradictions are supposed to represent the reality of God, which is above human logic.

In other words, the constructive faith which Christ referred to as the culmination of moral character is replaced with the subconscious forces of corruption as the assumed faith of corrupt persons.