Academia takes another stab at religion, this time through a supposed link between religion and crime rates.
The article published discusses a study that compared data concerning belief in heaven and hell with the crime rates in the countries where those beliefs were prevalent. They found that people who believed in a "forgiving God," or heaven, were more likely to commit crimes, while people who believed in a "punishing God," or hell, were less likely to commit crimes.
The end result was the conclusion (which was danced around but never stated outright) that Christians commit more crimes than non-Christians.
But I would submit that the study was flawed.They never once mention the people who believe in the God in the Christian Bible, who is both punishing AND forgiving. Their study only covered people who believed in one aspect of God or another, not His entire being.
To truly link Christianity to crime rates, one would have to know the hearts and minds of the people involved. And while I would submit that the study may indeed be accurate (though not in the way the academics might think) simply because no one can obey God's law perfectly, there is no way for an academic study to judge that. Academia may have the desire to measure and judge the hearts and minds of Christians, but they do not have the authority or the ability.
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