Scriptural Violence Prompts Aggression in Readers

A new study by University of Michigan researchers seeks to further understand the use of religion to justify acts of violence in countless instances ranging from the medieval Crusades to the events of 9/11. The study shows that, just as watching violent media can lead to increased levels of violent behavior, so can reading violent religious parables, particularly if God is illustrated as sanctioning violence.

The 500 subjects of When God Sanctions Killing: Effect of Scriptural Violence on Aggression were neither terrorists nor religious fundamentalists, but undergraduate students, about half studying at the traditionally Mormon Brigham Young University where 99 percent of students report believing in both God and the Bible. The other half studied at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam which sits on the other end of the religious spectrum with just 50 percent reporting a belief in God and only 27 percent in the Bible.

Both sets of subjects read a parable describing the violent abuse and rape of a woman and the subsequent revenge by her people. Half of the subjects were told the passage came from the Bible, while the others were told it was from a scroll discovered in a 1984 anthropological expedition. Half of the subjects also read an extra verse in which God instructs the woman's people to seek revenge.

Afterwards, subjects engaged in what they were told was a separate experiment, competing with partners to win at a small task. The reward? The opportunity to blast the other's headphones with a noise up to a painful 105 decibels, depending on how loud they chose to set it.

Overall, the Brigham Young students were more likely to set the volume high, showing increased levels of aggression. This was particularly true when the verse featuring God's command was included and when they were told the passage was from the Bible rather than an ancient scroll.

Students from Vrije Universiteit showed less aggression after reading the text, but were still more likely to blast the noise if they read the verse mentioning God, even if they were non-believers.

The findings provide an empirical foundation for scholarly speculation that repeated selective readings by religious fundamentalists may lead directly to acts of brutality.

Press Release: When God Sanctions Killing, the People Listen
FULL TEXT: When God Sanctions Killing: Effect of Scriptural Violence on Aggression (cached uncorrected proof)