When God sanctions killing, the people listen
“New research published in the March issue of Psychological Science may help elucidate the relationship between religious indoctrination and violence, a topic that has gained renewed notoriety in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks. In the article, University of Michigan psychologist Brad Bushman and his colleagues suggest that scriptural violence sanctioned by God can increase aggression, especially in believers.
The authors set out to examine this interaction by conducting experiments with undergraduates at two religiously contrasting universities: Brigham Young University where 99% of students report believing in God and the Bible and Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam where just 50% report believing in God and 27% believe in the bible.
After reporting their religious affiliation and beliefs, the participants read a parable adapted from a relatively obscure passage in the King James Bible describing the brutal torture and murder of a woman, and her husband?s subsequent revenge on her attackers. Half of the participants were told that the passage came from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament while the other half were told it was an ancient scroll discovered in an archaeological expedition.
In addition to the scriptural distinction, half of the participants from both the bible and the ancient scroll groups read an adjusted version that included the verse:
“The Lord commanded Israel to take arms against their brothers and chasten them before the LORD.”
The participants were then placed in pairs and instructed to compete in a simple reaction task. The winner of the task would be able to “blast” his or her partner with noise up to 105 decibels, about the same volume as a fire alarm. The test measures aggression.
As expected, the Brigham Young students were more aggressive (i.e. louder) with their blasts if they had been told that the passage they had previously read was from the bible rather than a scroll. Likewise, participants were more aggressive if they had read the additional verse that depicts God sanctioning violence.”
Anyone surprised by the results of this research?
Via EurekaAlert >
February 28th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
You forgot to mention that the discussion section addresses this issue about how it can facilitate extremism, but that religion also has a great pacifying effect and
“Moreover, Nepstad (2004) argued that
‘‘religion has historically played a significant role in curbing
violence, constraining aggression, and promoting reconciliation
and understanding between groups’’ (p. 297), presumably because
the overriding message of the scriptures is one of peace
and love. Taking a single violent episode out of its overall context
(as we did here) can produce a significant increase in
aggression.” It is extremism that the article is addressing, not religion in general.
April 12th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
The point of this post was that reading a religious scripture made people more aggressive in this experiment - whether they were religious or not. You can bring context and history into the discussion but you’d only be trying to protect religion from the results of an experiment with very clear results.
Besides, history is rife with examples of religious violence so I’m not sure it’s wise to invoke history on the matter. I think the authors of the study included that statement in the study - which is otherwise quite negative toward religion - because they wanted to avoid pissing people off.
As for the overriding message of the scriptures being “peace and love,” that would depend on what message you are trying to find. There is definitely scripture that has overriding message of hate, violence, and bigotry. People find in the scripture what they are looking for because there are mixed messages. If a person wants to justify their violence, they’ll be able to find scripture providing that justification and grounding it firmly in God’s will.
January 5th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Yes it is called Bible Bashing
We can prove anything with and without Gods Help !!!