Science Forums 2

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

It would be interesting to see how many paedophiles were Christian or Christian Clergy (the ones convicted and in jail). A good bit of statistical research for someone?
So then we would know if we could say "Christianity causes buggery" or some such similar.
Where does it say in the Bible or New Testament that we should bugger little children? Perhaps some one got the grammar wrong in the translation of Jesus'
words, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me" or perhaps many clergy are dyslectic

I did post about this briefly back in October of 2008.


http://hypography.com/forums/theolog...tml#post242567

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

SpringerLink - Journal Article

This article examines associations between self-reported religious affiliations and official offense histories among 111 incarcerated adult male sexual offenders. Four categories of religiosity were devised according to self-reported continuities and discontinuities in life-course religious affiliations: atheists, dropouts, converts, and stayers. ANCOVAs indicated that stayers (those who maintained religious involvement from childhood to adulthood) had more sexual offense convictions, more victims, and younger victims, than other groups. Results challenge assumptions that religious involvement should, as with other crime, serve to deter sexual offending behavior. Results are discussed in terms of social control and situational theories of crime.

I also appreciated Moonman's comments about the simple numbers involved here, how there are more religious people in general, and hence more crimes by said religious people. Something like 80-90% of the country self-identifies with some sort of religion, so it's not surprising that religious are more involved with sexual crimes against children.

However, with that said, many religious teachings attempt to directly suppress our natural sexual urges, and that inhibition tends to lead to more acts committed in order to release those urges. It's like holding a balloon full of air under the water. The harder you press it down, the more forcefully and unexpectedly it pops back to the surface.

Further, all one must do is recall the issues with Catholic priests and child molestation to bring into perspective the significant anchoring effect religiosity has on this data.

And from Essay later that same thread shared a study more relevant to this particular thread:

Disgust, scrupulosity and conservative attitudes about sex: Evidence for a mediational model of homophobia

Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 42, Issue 5, October 2008, Pages 1364-1369

In the present study, core disgust predicted negative attitudes toward homosexuals even after controlling for contamination fear. The effect of core disgust on negative attitudes toward homosexuals was indirect, partially mediated by conservative sexual attitudes and religiosity. The effects of religious principles on negative attitudes toward homosexuals were indirect, via conservative sexual beliefs. These results establish a link between disgust and negative attitudes towards homosexuals that is not fully accounted for by contamination concerns, but rather is partially accounted for by conservative sexual ideology and religiosity.

ScienceDirect - Journal of Research in Personality : Disgust, scrupulosity and conservative attitudes about sex: Evidence for a mediational model of homophobia

It's hard not to just do or think anything you want when you believe that you're being told to hate someone because god (and your infallible book) wants you to. There aren't a lot of logical arguments (if there are any at all) which can overcome a delusion as deep and broad as that.