does god's forgiveness create crime?

[dolf]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21966-is-gods-mercy-to-blame-for-high-crime-rates.html

There's nothing like the fear of eternal damnation to encourage low crime rates. But does belief in heaven and a forgiving god encourage lawbreaking? A new study suggests it might – although establishing a clear link between the two remains a challenge.

Azim Shariff at the University of Oregon in Eugene and his colleagues compared global data on people's beliefs in the afterlife with worldwide crime data collated by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. In total, Shariff's team looked at data covering the beliefs of 143,000 individuals across 67 countries and from a variety of religious backgrounds.

In most of the countries assessed, people were more likely to report a belief in heaven than in hell. Using that information, the team could calculate the degree to which a country's rate of belief in heaven outstrips its rate of belief in hell.

Even after the researchers had controlled for a host of crime-related cultural factors – including GDP, income inequality, population density and life expectancy – national crime rates were typically higher in countries with particularly strong beliefs in heaven but weak beliefs in hell.

"Belief in a benevolent, forgiving god could license people to think they can get away with things," says Shariff – although he stresses that this conclusion is speculative, and that the results do not necessarily imply causality between religious beliefs and crime rates.

"There are a number of possible causal pathways," says Richard Sosis, an anthropologist at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, who was not involved in the study. The most likely interpretation is that there are intervening variables at the societal level – societies may have values that are similarly reflected in their legal and religious systems.

In a follow-up study, yet to be published, Shariff and Amber DeBono of Winston–Salem State University in North Carolina primed volunteers who had Christian beliefs by asking them to write variously about God's forgiving nature, God's punitive nature, a forgiving human, a punitive human, or a neutral subject. The volunteers were then asked to complete anagram puzzles for a monetary reward of a few cents per anagram.

Participants were given the opportunity to commit petty theft, with no chance of being caught, by lying about the number of anagrams they had successfully completed. Shariff's team found that those participants who had written about a forgiving god claimed nearly $2 more than they were entitled to under the rules of the game, whereas those in the other groups awarded themselves less than 50 cents more than they were entitled to.

"When you take all of this research together, it does start to build a stronger case," says Shariff.

It is unclear the degree to which these lab-based psychological experiments translate to large-scale societal effects. But according to Sosis, such a link is at least plausible.

that's kinda messed up.

 

[hobbit.]

they should be burnt at the stake.

 

[O-dad's Medium]

I've always thought so.

I think Christianity (some flavors more than others) promotes irresponsible acts by promising forgiveness in exchange for something that is costless and wholly intangible.

E.g.; he Pentecostals think convicted murderer Ted Bundy is in heaven.

Which would be fine by me.

Place sounds dreadfully boring.

 

[CHNOPS]

Interesting. There is also something loosely known as "do-gooder" syndrome, where people who--for example--work with disabled people are more likely than others to park illegally in Handicap parking spots. In general, they forgive themselves for the bad they do because of the good they do--and on balance, their bad is worse than the average person's.

 

[O-dad's Medium]

I think people call that "perks"

But I may be mistaken.

 

[CHNOPS]

I think people call that "perks"

But I may be mistaken.

Got it on the second try.

 

[dolf]

I've always thought so.

I think Christianity (some flavors more than others) promotes irresponsible acts by promising forgiveness in exchange for something that is costless and wholly intangible.

E.g.; he Pentecostals think convicted murderer Ted Bundy is in heaven.

Which would be fine by me.

Place sounds dreadfully boring.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkykJ5uFqPI

Interesting. There is also something loosely known as "do-gooder" syndrome, where people who--for example--work with disabled people are more likely than others to park illegally in Handicap parking spots. In general, they forgive themselves for the bad they do because of the good they do--and on balance, their bad is worse than the average person's.

i buck the trend by having never parked in a cripple spot. or in a parent & child spot without a child in the car.
but then, i'm an atheist

 

[NaughtyGingerBoy]

You can't just be forgiven...you have to truly repent of your sins.


Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken.

 

[Disgustipated]

You can't just be forgiven...you have to truly repent of your sins.


Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken.

I'm moving this post to the "ginger" thread as you are only allowed to post there.

 

[NaughtyGingerBoy]

I'm moving this post to the "ginger" thread as you are only allowed to post there.

Thanks...it's awful when I screw it up for the rest of you.

 

[O-dad's Medium]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkykJ5uFqPI

i buck the trend by having never parked in a cripple spot. or in a parent & child spot without a child in the car.
but then, i'm an atheist

I keep finding more reasons to like you.

 

[O-dad's Medium]

Got it on the second try.

How gracious of you.

 

[dolf]

I keep finding more reasons to like you.

you'll spot more reasons to dislike soon enough

 

[O-dad's Medium]

You can't just be forgiven...you have to truly repent of your sins.


Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken.

Yay for established dogma.

Yes, that's how it's said.


But, how does one reconcile the facts that:

1) no one outside your own head can tell if you've actually done this...

2) you can still do this after a lifetime of bloodshed, rape and kicking kittens and suffer no lasting eternal effects.


If the rules work like that, not only is god a dick, he enjoys the company of dicks.

 

[O-dad's Medium]

you'll spot more reasons to dislike soon enough

How presumptuous and/or pessimistic of you.

 

[Licia]

Sure it does.

As a child, my favorite excuse was the devil made me do it.

 

[O-dad's Medium]

Sure it does.

As a child, my favorite excuse was the devil made me do it.

...QED

 

[dolf]

How presumptuous and/or pessimistic of you.

it's endearing!

 

[O-dad's Medium]

it's endearing!

I never said it wasn't.

 

[Licia]

...QED

Children will stop at almost nothing as long as they can blame their wrongs on someone else.

 

[O-dad's Medium]

Children will stop at almost nothing as long as they can blame their wrongs on someone else.

And I know some seriously old children.

*nods*

 

[Wat_Tyler]

I think that most longing for forgiveness stems from a sense of guilt.


I think that most senses of guilt stem from being caught.

 

[KingOrfeo]

they should be burnt at the stake.

Who, Christians? Yes, certainly.

 

[Blue Dolphin]

Someone who does not exist, can neither create, nor forgive.

And God certainly does not exist in my world, nor yours.

 

[NaughtyGingerBoy]

Yay for established dogma.

Yes, that's how it's said.


But, how does one reconcile the facts that:

1) no one outside your own head can tell if you've actually done this...

2) you can still do this after a lifetime of bloodshed, rape and kicking kittens and suffer no lasting eternal effects.


If the rules work like that, not only is god a dick, he enjoys the company of dicks.

With the exception of suicide....the one thing that, apparently, cannot be forgiven no matter how repentant you are. So if you failed to kill yourself when you were a moody teen and then devoted your life to all manner of benevolent and wonderful things and were the very best of all humanity can offer...you get the idea...you'll still burn downstairs with the horned dude in the red tuxedo.