People who believe in heaven commit more crimes

[formerexpat]

seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/06/22/study-finds-people-who-believe-in-heaven-commit-more-crimes/

SEATTLE (CBS Seattle) — Believing if you are on a “highway to hell” could impact whether or not if you commit a crime.

A study published in the scientific journal PLoS One by University of Oregon’s Azim Shariff and University of Kansas’s Mijke Rhemtulla finds that people who believe in hell are less likely to commit a crime while people who believe in heaven more likely are to get in trouble with the law.

The two professors collected data for belief in hell, heaven and God from the World and European Values Surveys that were conducted between 1981 until 2007 with 143,197 participants based in 67 countries. They compared the data to the mean standardized crime rate in those countries based on homicides, robberies, rapes, kidnappings, assaults, thefts, auto thefts, drug crimes, burglaries and human trafficking.

“[R]ates of belief in heaven and hell had significant, unique, and opposing effects on crime rates,” Shariff and Rhemtulla found in the study. “Belief in hell predicted lower crime rates … whereas belief in heaven predicted higher crime rates.”

[Tennesseer]

Interesting.

[TonyTiger]

Next stop, the Religious board?

[handyman2]

This survey appears to me to be a bit screwy. People who believe in heaven also believe in hell. So people who believe in hell must have some cognizance of a heaven because without a heaven how can there be a hell. So how do you seperate the two? Crazy survey logic.

[billisonboard]

Not sure what happened to the link.

Tenn..., thanks for getting one that works.

[mmhmm]

Jun 24, 2012 12:27:16 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

This survey appears to me to be a bit screwy. People who believe in heaven also believe in hell. So people who believe in hell must have some cognizance of a heaven because without a heaven how can there be a hell. So how do you seperate the two? Crazy survey logic.

To be fair, not all people who believe in heaven also believe in hell. I'd be willing to bet, however, all people who believe in hell also believe in heaven.

[Tennesseer]

Billis-this link should load the article.

www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0039048

[handyman2]

I read word for word the whole study and it still does not make sense to me. But I am just a red neck ole country boy. What do I know.

[Deleted]

So, why do they title the study "People who Believe in Heaven Commit More Crimes? Why don't they title it "People Who Believe in Hell Commit Less Crimes"? There is always spin, spin, spin.

Soooo, they know this how? Is there some International Data Bank on Criminal beliefs? And, then jump to some "Christians Overpay Themselves" as being related to this HOW?

Um, yeah, um OK.....

[ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ]

I think that the so-called "study" is strictly opinion. Heaven and Hell go hand-in-hand in most religions.

Believing if you are on a “highway to hell” could impact whether or not if you commit a crime.

A study published in the scientific journal PLoS One by University of Oregon’s Azim Shariff and University of Kansas’s Mijke Rhemtulla finds that people who believe in hell are less likely to commit a crime while people who believe in heaven more likely are to get in trouble with the law.

And aren't people who don't believe in Heaven called Atheists? Atheists believe in neither Heaven OR Hell. They believe they're born, they live, they die. End of story.

[vandalshandle]

I wonder who paid for this ridiculous study, and why.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 24, 2012 10:50:40 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Interesting.

Yeah it is. I quote Reagan, in one of the most famous political speeches in recorded history and because he mentioned God it got shuffled off to the Religious Discussion. And this is still here. That IS interesting.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

I try to discuss the politics of the First Amendment with respect to religious freedom in he context of the Obama regime being sued by more than 40 Catholic organizations. Gone. Off to religious land. Interesting indeed.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 24, 2012 11:08:37 GMT -5 TonyTiger said:

Next stop, the Religious board?

One would think that. But I've come to have very low expectations for any kind of consistency with respect to the rules here.

[Deleted]

Jun 24, 2012 20:07:31 GMT -5 vandalshandle said:

I wonder who paid for this ridiculous study, and why.

tenure.

(This was a secondary analysis of existing data sources... so, relatively low cost study)

[Deleted]

Technically, the study doesn't tell us anything about the beliefs of actual criminals. But crime rates are higher in societies where people tend to believe in Heaven, and lower in societies where people tend to believe in Hell.

It's basically saying that we (the royal we, society) are less likely to do bad things if we think we'll be punished (in jail, or in the hereafter). And we take more liberties if we think we'll be forgiven (by the courts, or by the deity of our choosing).

[billisonboard]

Jun 24, 2012 21:57:07 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Jun 24, 2012 11:08:37 GMT -5 TonyTiger said:

Next stop, the Religious board?

One would think that. But I've come to have very low expectations for any kind of consistency with respect to the rules here.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm

[workpublic]

does israel have a high crime rate? i thought jewish people don't believe in hell.

[jkapp]

LOL! Its interesting to me that those that only believe in heaven commit more crimes...maybe if they also believed in hell, that attitude might change?

But I agree with others, I'm not sure how you believe in a heaven but no hell...that's like saying I only believe a coin has one side to it

[Deleted]

Heaven and Hell are Christian constructs. So what this study says is some Christians commit more crimes than others.

[jkapp]

Jun 25, 2012 10:22:25 GMT -5 @justaposter said:

Heaven and Hell are Christian constructs. So what this study says is some Christians commit more crimes than others.

Not really, because it states that people who believe in heaven commt more crimes. Those that believe in hell commit less. Christians believe in both heaven and hell, so I'm not sure how they fall into the data

[weltschmerz]

Jun 25, 2012 9:41:07 GMT -5 workpublic said:

does israel have a high crime rate? i thought jewish people don't believe in hell.

Sure they do. They believe in heaven and in hell. However, their versions are different from Christian versions. For instance, you don't have to be Jewish to go to Jewish heaven; you just have to be a good person, which frankly, makes a lot more sense and is more inclusive.
Jewish hell doesn't have fire and brimstone.

[Deleted]

What about Buddhist heaven and hell?

[weltschmerz]

Jun 25, 2012 10:35:33 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

What about Buddhist heaven and hell?

Buddhists have a lot of heavens and hells....all temporary, none eternal.

[Deleted]

Jun 25, 2012 10:58:05 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Jun 25, 2012 10:35:33 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

What about Buddhist heaven and hell?

Buddhists have a lot of heavens and hells....all temporary, none eternal.

i wonder how that affects crime.

[weltschmerz]

Jun 25, 2012 10:59:04 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Jun 25, 2012 10:58:05 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Buddhists have a lot of heavens and hells....all temporary, none eternal.

i wonder how that affects crime.

Well, a true Buddhist tries to avoid inflicting harm on others, even to the point of not eating animals. They believe in Karma, and not the kind people beg and barter for here.

[Deleted]

Jun 25, 2012 11:02:37 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Jun 25, 2012 10:59:04 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

i wonder how that affects crime.

Well, a true Buddhist tries to avoid inflicting harm on others, even to the point of not eating animals. They believe in Karma, and not the kind people beg and barter for here.

most truly religious people avoid inflicting harm on others.

[weltschmerz]

Jun 25, 2012 11:03:45 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Jun 25, 2012 11:02:37 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Well, a true Buddhist tries to avoid inflicting harm on others, even to the point of not eating animals. They believe in Karma, and not the kind people beg and barter for here.

most truly religious people avoid inflicting harm on others.

Ah, but most Christians are OK with killing animals. God gave them permission in the bible.

[mmhmm]

Okay, folks. It looks like this is turning into, primarily, a discussion of religion rather than a discussion of whether belief in a concept of life after death and punishment therein has an effect on incidents of violent crime. For that reason, I'm going to move it to the Religious Discussion forum.

[roselia]

Jun 25, 2012 10:35:33 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

What about Buddhist heaven and hell?

Buddhists are Atheists.

Re on the thread matter: Correlation between Crime and Heaven Believers maybe spurious. Any mathematician or statistician will proudly tell you that correlation does not imply causation.