Researchers have discovered that countries with a greater belief in heaven compared to hell experience higher crime rates.
This conclusion arises from an investigation involving 26 years of data encompassing over 140,000 individuals from nearly 70 nations.
The findings indicate that individuals may be more inclined to engage in criminal behavior if they do not believe in potential punishment in the afterlife.
Researchers identified that violent crimes, such as murder, robbery, and rape, were more frequent in societies where the idea of punishment plays a critical role in religious beliefs.
This suggests that a nation with a higher belief in heaven than in hell is likely to have more crimes compared to one with balanced beliefs.
The publication of this study in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE is attributed to two professors based in the US – Azim Shariff from the University of Oregon and Mijke Rhemtulla from the University of Kansas.
The researchers analyzed survey data from 1981 to 2007 that included references to hell, heaven, and God, involving 143,197 participants across 67 countries.
They then correlated this data with average crime statistics for those nations based on various criminal activities including murder, robbery, rape, kidnapping, assault, theft, vehicle crime, drug-related offenses, burglary, and human trafficking.
‘Beliefs in heaven and hell exhibited notable, distinct, and opposing effects on crime rates,’ they noted in their findings.
‘While belief in hell correlated with lower crime rates, belief in heaven was associated with higher crime rates.’
Prof. Shariff, who directs the Culture and Morality Lab at the University of Oregon, stated: ‘The crucial takeaway is that when controlled for one another, a nation’s belief in hell correlates with lower crime rates, whereas the belief in heaven correlates with higher rates, revealing strong effects.’
‘This finding offers key insights into the varying impacts of supernatural punishment versus supernatural benevolence.’
‘Our previous controlled research in the lab supports this, but this study presents a significant “real-world” effect on a vital aspect of society – crime.’
In a report last year published in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, Prof. Shariff found that undergraduate students were more likely to cheat when they held a belief in a forgiving God rather than a punishing one.
He noted that religious belief has typically been regarded as ‘a monolithic construct.’
‘When disaggregating religion into various constructs, distinct relationships begin to emerge.’
‘Our research identified two differing impacts that move in opposing directions.’
‘Overall religious belief tends to obscure these separate influences, revealing no apparent relationship.’
The professor continued: ‘Across nations, the concept of supernatural punishment appears to predict lower crime rates.’
‘Currently, we can only theorize about the mechanisms involved, but it’s possible that those who do not believe in afterlife punishment might feel more liberated to act unethically.’
‘This results in a diminished sense of divine deterrence.’
In 2003, researchers at Harvard University discovered that economic performance tended to be better in developed nations with a stronger belief in hell compared to heaven.
by Sel Hurst
