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Do not fill this in! ==Notes== {{refbegin|45em}} :'''a.'''{{Note label|A|a|none}} Studies on divorce in the [[United States]] done by the Barna Group suggested that [[atheists]] and [[agnostics]] have lower divorce rates than faith groups on average (though some faith groups had [[Religion and divorce|lower rates]] still).<ref name="barna1">{{cite web|url= http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/15-familykids/42-new-marriage-and-divorce-statistics-released|title= New Marriage and Divorce Statistics Released|author= Barna Group|date= 31 March 2008|publisher= Barna Group|access-date= 19 November 2011|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141219120231/http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/15-familykids/42-new-marriage-and-divorce-statistics-released|archive-date= 19 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.adherents.com/largecom/baptist_divorce.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20020328084636/http://www.adherents.com/largecom/baptist_divorce.html |url-status= usurped |archive-date= March 28, 2002 |title= Survey Inspires Debate Over Why Faith Isn't a Bigger Factor in Marriage |first= Christine |last= Wicker|year= 2000|publisher= www.adherents.com|access-date= 1 April 2012}}</ref> The study notes that fewer atheists and agnostics enter into marriage relative to faith-based individuals. :'''b.'''{{Note label|B|b|none}} Some studies appear to show positive links in the relationship between religiosity and moral behavior<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kerley | first1 = Kent R. | last2 = Matthews | last3 = Blanchard | first3 = Troy C. | year = 2005 | title = Religiosity, Religious Participation, and Negative Prison Behaviors | journal = Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | volume = 44 | issue = 4| pages = 443β57 | doi = 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2005.00296.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Saroglou | first1 = Vassilis | last2 = Pichon | last3 = Dernelle | first3 = Rebecca | year = 2005 | title = Prosocial Behavior and Religion: New Evidence Based on Projective Measures and Peer Ratings | url = http://www.uclouvain.be/cps/ucl/doc/psyreli/documents/2005.JSSR.pdf| journal = Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | volume = 44 | issue = 3| pages = 323β48 | doi = 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2005.00289.x | citeseerx = 10.1.1.503.7559 }}</ref><ref>e.g. [http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data_access/data/datasets/social_capital_community_survey.html a survey] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071008201939/http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/data_access/data/datasets/social_capital_community_survey.html |date=2007-10-08 }} by [[Robert D. Putnam|Robert Putnam]] showing that membership of religious groups was positively correlated with membership of voluntary organisations</ref> Modern research in [[Relationship between criminology and sociology of education|criminology]] also suggests an inverse relationship between religion and crime,<ref>As is stated in: {{cite journal | last1 = Chu | first1 = Doris C. | year = 2007 | title = Religiosity and Desistance From Drug Use | journal = Criminal Justice and Behavior | volume = 34 | issue = 5| pages = 661β79 | doi = 10.1177/0093854806293485 | s2cid = 145491534 }}</ref> with some studies establishing this connection.<ref> For example: * {{cite journal | last1 = Albrecht | first1 = S. I. | last2 = Chadwick | first2 = B. A. | last3 = Alcorn | first3 = D. S. | year = 1977 | title = Religiosity and deviance:Application of an attitude-behavior contingent consistency model | journal = Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | volume = 16 | issue = 3| pages = 263β74 | doi=10.2307/1385697| jstor = 1385697 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Burkett | first1 = S. | last2 = White | first2 = M. | year = 1974 | title = Hellfire and delinquency:Another look | journal = Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion | volume = 13 | issue = 4| pages = 455β62 | doi=10.2307/1384608| jstor = 1384608 }} * Chard-Wierschem, D. (1998). In pursuit of the "true" relationship: A longitudinal study of the effects of religiosity on delinquency and substance abuse. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation. * {{cite journal | last1 = Cochran | first1 = J. K. | last2 = Akers | first2 = R. L. | year = 1989 | title = Beyond Hellfire:An explanation of the variable effects of religiosity on adolescent marijuana and alcohol use | journal = Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency | volume = 26 | issue = 3| pages = 198β225 | doi=10.1177/0022427889026003002| s2cid = 145479350 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Evans | first1 = T. D. | last2 = Cullen | first2 = F. T. | last3 = Burton | first3 = V. S. Jr.| last4 = Dunaway | first4 = R. G. | last5 = Payne | first5 = G. L. | last6 = Kethineni | first6 = S. R. | year = 1996 | title = Religion, social bonds, and delinquency | journal = Deviant Behavior | volume = 17 | pages = 43β70 | doi=10.1080/01639625.1996.9968014}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Grasmick | first1 = H. G. | last2 = Bursik | first2 = R. J. | last3 = Cochran | first3 = J. K. | year = 1991 | title = Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's": Religiosity and taxpayer's inclinations to cheat | journal = The Sociological Quarterly | volume = 32 | issue = 2| pages = 251β66 | doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.1991.tb00356.x}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Higgins | first1 = P. C. | last2 = Albrecht | first2 = G. L. | year = 1977 | title = Hellfire and delinquency revisited | journal = Social Forces | volume = 55 | issue = 4| pages = 952β58 | doi=10.1093/sf/55.4.952}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Johnson | first1 = B. R. | last2 = Larson | first2 = D. B. | last3 = DeLi | first3 = S. | last4 = Jang | first4 = S. J. | year = 2000 | title = Escaping from the crime of inner cities:Church attendance and religious salience among disadvantaged youth | journal = Justice Quarterly | volume = 17 | issue = 2| pages = 377β91 | doi=10.1080/07418820000096371| s2cid = 144816590 }} * {{cite journal | last1 = Johnson | first1 = R. E. | last2 = Marcos | first2 = A. C. | last3 = Bahr | first3 = S. J. | year = 1987 | title = The role of peers in the complex etiology of adolescent drug use | journal = Criminology | volume = 25 | issue = 2| pages = 323β40 | doi=10.1111/j.1745-9125.1987.tb00800.x}} * {{cite journal | last1 = Powell | first1 = K. | year = 1997 | title = Correlates of violent and nonviolent behavior among vulnerable inner-city youths | journal = Family and Community Health | volume = 20 | issue = 2| pages = 38β47 | doi=10.1097/00003727-199707000-00006}} </ref> A meta-analysis of 60 studies on religion and crime concluded, "religious behaviors and beliefs exert a moderate deterrent effect on individuals' criminal behavior".<ref name = baier>{{cite journal | last1 = Baier | first1 = C. J. | last2 = Wright | first2 = B. R. | year = 2001 | title = If you love me, keep my commandments":A meta-analysis of the effect of religion on crime | journal = Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency | volume = 38 | pages = 3β21 | doi=10.1177/0022427801038001001| s2cid = 145779667 }}</ref> :'''c.'''{{Note label|C|c|none}} Zuckerman identifies that Scandinavians have "relatively high rates of petty crime and burglary", but "their overall rates of violent crimeβsuch as murder, aggravated assault, and rapeβare among the lowest on earth" (Zuckerman 2008, pp. 5β6). :'''d.'''{{Note label|D|d|none}} The authors also state that "A few hundred years ago rates of homicide were astronomical in Christian Europe and the American colonies,"<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html|journal=Journal of Religion and Society|title=Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look|first=Gregory S.|last=Paul|location=Baltimore, MD|year=2005|volume=7|pages=4β5, 8|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214113448/http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html|archive-date=2011-12-14}}</ref> and "the least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards."<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html|journal=Journal of Religion and Society|title=Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look|first=Gregory S.|last=Paul|location=Baltimore, MD|year=2005|volume=7|page=11|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214113448/http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html|archive-date=2011-12-14}}</ref> They argue for a positive [[correlation]] between the degree of public religiosity in a society and certain measures of dysfunction,<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html|journal=Journal of Religion and Society|title=Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies: A First Look|first=Gregory S.|last=Paul|location=Baltimore, MD|year=2005|volume=7|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111214113448/http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html|archive-date=2011-12-14}}</ref> an analysis published later in the same journal argues that a number of methodological problems undermine any findings or conclusions in the research.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2006/2006-1.html|journal=Journal of Religion and Society|title=Religiosity, Secularism, and Social Health|author=Gerson Moreno-RiaΓ±o|author2=Mark Caleb Smith|author3=Thomas Mach|publisher=Cedarville University|year=2006|volume=8|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028205639/http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2006/2006-1.html|archive-date=2011-10-28}}</ref> :'''e.'''{{Note label|E|e|none}} Blackburn provides examples such as the phrase in [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 22:18 that has "helped to burn alive tens or hundreds of thousands of women in Europe and America": "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," and notes that the [[Old Testament]] God apparently has "no problems with a slave-owning society", considers birth control a crime punishable by death, and "is keen on child abuse".<ref>{{cite book |title= Ethics: A Very Short Introduction|last= Blackburn|first= Simon|author-link=Simon Blackburn|year= 2001|publisher= Oxford University Press|location= Oxford|isbn= 978-0-19-280442-6|pages= 10, 12}}</ref> Others interpret these passages differently, arguing for example that Jewish laws show the evolution of moral standards in society: that Jews actually threatened those who pursued forced slavery with the death penalty, held that slaves were persons instead of property, and protected them in several ways.<ref name="colley1"/><ref name="enrichmentjournal1"/><ref name="Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy">{{cite web |last1=Westacott |first1=Emrys |title=Moral Relativism |url=https://www.iep.utm.edu/moral-re/#SH2g |website=iep.utm.edu |access-date=12 May 2018}}</ref> {{refend}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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