Can we blame God’s mercy for higher crime rates? This is the seemingly bizarre question that the NewScientist is asking this
morning, as the outlet explores eternal damnation and the ways in which
faith interacts with, complicates and impacts criminal activity.
The focus of the article is a new study from the University of Oregon
in Eugen, which seems to show that there could be a correlation between
belief in heaven and a forgiving God and…breaking the law.
Dr. Azim Shariff, a psychology professor, and his team looked at
global data that highlights peoples’ beliefs about life after death and
also looked at information collected by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The massive examination included 143,000 individuals living in 67
nations. Obviously, such a massive sample enabled the team to include a
diversity of religious backgrounds.
In most of the countries examined, it was more likely that people
reported a belief in heaven than in hell. From this, the researchers
were able to examine the intensity and degree to which each nation’s
belief of heaven outpaced its acceptance of hell. The goal was to
explore how differences in belief surrounding both post-mortem
localities impact crime.
Interestingly, here’s what the researchers found:
Even after controlling for crime-related issues like GDP, income
inconsistencies, population density and life expectancy, national crime
rates were higher when nations believe strongly in heaven but have
weak acceptance of a hell.
“Belief in a benevolent, forgiving god could license people to think
they can get away with things,” Shariff explains, but he cautions that
this speculation is preliminary and that causation hasn’t yet been
proven between religious beliefs and crime rates.
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