Religion and crime

[rug]

June 7, 2013 By Gene Veith

The worst criminals tend to be very religious. In fact, they often use religion to rationalize their misdeeds. Of course, in doing so, their theology is horrendous. Nicholas C. DiDonato reports on some research that studied How criminals use religion to justify their crimes. Details after the jump.This draws on the paper “With God on my side: The paradoxical relationship between religious belief and criminality among hardcore street offenders” in the journal Theoretical Criminology, and also “New Study Suggests Religion May Help Criminals Justify Their Crimes.”:

The researchers had noticed a rather odd finding in the field of criminology: on the one hand, criminals tend to have a problem with delayed gratification, but, on the other hand, most have strong religious beliefs. Religions often emphasize the afterlife and the consequences of evil deeds, and so the researchers puzzled over how the same group of people could accept the long-term consequences of their actions in the afterlife, and yet at the same time fail to take seriously the long-term consequences of their actions in this life.

To investigate this problem, the criminologists surveyed and interviewed 48 serious street offenders in the Atlanta area. Of the 48 criminals, 45 expressed religious conviction. Through interviews, the authors hoped to figure out how criminals reconciled their short-term thinking (crime) with their long-term beliefs (religion).

As it turns out, the criminals did so rather easily. As the researchers put it, “…the hardcore offenders we interviewed are able to exploit the absolvitory tenets of religious doctrine, neutralizing their fear of death to not only allow but encourage offending.” That is, the criminals relied on the fact that their religion (overwhelmingly Christianity) uplifts forgiveness and absolution, and so the criminals reasoned they would be forgiven too.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2013/06/religion-and-crime/

http://tcr.sagepub.com/content/17/1/49

[Phillip McCleod]

1. i always suspected as much..

..but it's good to see some evidence that indeed jesus is little more than a scapegoat for some. i further suspect the same rationalizations were used by pedo-priests to justify their crimes.

.. hey.. god might forgive them, but the rest of us are less accommodating.

[Adsos Letter]

2. Theologically, I think it comes under the classification of "willful sin"

That kind of thinking/action is recognized, and condemned, at various places in the bible writings.

[dimbear]

3. Christians used to wait until shortly before death to be baptised.

Since that ceremony wipes away all sins, it gives a nice advantage in the afterlife. The most famed example was Emperor Constantine. This privilege was suspended later due to abuse.

[rug]

4. With Constantine, I think it was more a political decision.

On the less cynical side, there is always Dismas, the good thief.

[dimbear]

5. Constantine had a lot on his conscience, always assuming he had one.

I'm sure you're familiar with the theory that he shopped about looking for a sect that could offer all the forgiveness he needed.

With a result that we know very well.

Truth to tell, the names of the priests of the Invincible Sun and of Mithras that turned him down aren't recorded by history.

[rug]

6. The problem with that theory is that the Edict of Milan was issued 24 years before his death.

[dimbear]

8. It's a shame we don't know more exactly when Constantine decided that

Christianity was the way to go. The Edict of Milan is of course only an edict of toleration, not advocacy. The other difficulty in understanding Constantine is the legendary and fabulous pseudo-biography that grew up to whitewash him.

I don't think one can so easily dismiss the idea of the three sided coin Constantine tossed, or perhaps it was just the most forgiving of the priests after all.

Questions, questions.

BTW, one notable point about Constantine that few remember. He is one of the very few Christians of any importance who were themselves worshiped as the god of another religion.

[goldent]

7. Catholics can do confession just before death - same result.

While it might seem like cheating, it isn't in the eyes of the Church. Matthew 20:1-16.