Religion: It’s the hell part that makes us behave, study finds

[joeactor]

A new study in­di­cates that crime is lower in so­ci­eties where peo­ple's re­li­gious be­liefs con­tain a strong pu­ni­tive com­po­nent than in oth­er places: a coun­try where many more peo­ple be­lieve in heav­en than in hell, for ex­am­ple, is likely to have a much high­er crime rate than one where these be­liefs are about equal.

...

The new find­ings, Shar­iff said, fit in­to a grow­ing body of ev­i­dence that su­per­nat­u­ral pun­ish­ment emerged in hu­man cul­ture as a very ef­fective in­nova­t­ion to get peo­ple to act more eth­ic­ally. In 2003, he said, Har­vard Uni­vers­ity re­search­ers Rob­ert J. Barro and Ra­chel M. Mc­Cleary found that gross do­mes­tic prod­uct was high­er in de­vel­oped coun­tries when peo­ple be­lieved in hell more than they did in heav­en.

More here: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/120622_hell

... and here:

[xSilverPhinx]

Telling us what some who deal with religious people on a daily basis already knew. You can't go underground when there's an omniscient Big Brother.

And since people's versions of god tends to think a lot like them, if they can find it in them to forgive themselves, so will their simulacrum theistic god.

[Ali]

Well, I guess that kind of explains why theists think we (atheists) must be out of control baby eating fiends and rapists....

I know it's wrong, but I'm having a total Smug Atheist moral superiority moment.  Like "Oh, you guys need the threat of hell to keep you in line?  *Sniff* I guess I can't relate..."  LMAO

[xSilverPhinx]

Well, I guess that kind of explains why theists think we (atheists) must be out of control baby eating fiends and rapists....

I know it's wrong, but I'm having a total Smug Atheist moral superiority moment.  Like "Oh, you guys need the threat of hell to keep you in line?  *Sniff* I guess I can't relate..."  LMAO

I know right? Don't they realise just how bad them make themselves sound when they say that if they weren't created in the image of their idea of god, and had a soul or something, then they'd be no better than the worst criminals?

Not exactly making a case for their intrinsic good.

Such childish morality, based on fear of getting caught.

[OldGit]

I think when these terrors are rammed into people at a very young age, they develop what we call a conscience.  I doubt whether many people consciously decide to avoid wrongdoing because they actually fear a literal hell; it'll be more because they're deeply brainwashed.

[Icarus]

I had a college philosphy prof who claimed that there were ony two reasons why people did or did not do things. The two reasons are; Fear and Desire. Everything else is a subset of one of those. In this case there is fear of hells fire or conversely, desire to please their god almighty.  Aren't you pleased that neither of these conditions apply to us?  Hell or goddamighty does not exist for us. 

[Sandra Craft]

... and here:

Where did the "and here:" go? 

[xSilverPhinx]

I had a college philosphy prof who claimed that there were ony two reasons why people did or did not do things. The two reasons are; Fear and Desire. Everything else is a subset of one of those. In this case there is fear of hells fire or conversely, desire to please their god almighty.  Aren't you pleased that neither of these conditions apply to us?  Hell or goddamighty does not exist for us.  

This teacher would beg to differ.


Reminds me of a woman who teaches classes who simply can't process the range of human emotions and motivations, very frustrating, especially since she had quite a following of - there's no better way of putting it - sheep.  

[joeactor]

... and here:

Where did the "and here:" go? 

There isn't one... old actor's habit - always leave your audience wanting more!

[Icarus]

Cute vid. I appreciated the last scene most.

I remember that I argued loudly against my profs proposition. He was most persuasive with his argumentation and evidence. I shrewdly conceded, though not convinced, that he was correct, thus earning a better grade for myself. I was even more shrewd by ignoring the opportunity to tell him to shove it.

The stuffy teachers drawing would have worked much better had she changed the word love for the word desire. The person who took the money was obviously not motivated by fear and had he loved jesus he would not have stolen it. Naah! He had the desire to get money for a large pizza with mushrooms, to pay the rent, or maybe to buy a dime bag.

[Sweetdeath]

Some people are pretty pathetic to think that only nice people are religious and won't commit crimes.

Sounds more like a Tyrant controlling people through fear.

[Hector Valdez]

I could have told you that.