In late June, the latest banking scandal concerning the rigging of market rates erupted in Britain.
At around the same time, a sociological study was published with the title Divergent Effects of Beliefs in Heaven and Hell on National Crime Rates.1 When corruption and antisocial behaviour is evident at every level of society, from the MPs’ expenses fraud, to phone hacking journalists, to the rioting and looting in our cities last summer, the article makes interesting reading.
Supernatural punishment
The paper, by authors from the Universities of Oregon and Kansas, begins by affirming that research across the social sciences supports the long-held claim that religious belief generally benefits society. However, investigations show that not all religious beliefs are equal in this respect. In particular, their data indicates that ‘the degree to which a country’s belief in heaven outstrips its rate of belief in hell significantly predicts higher crime rates’.
The re-emergence of heavy shepherds
What would you think if you received a letter from your church leaders that read like this? ‘Are church members …