debate-points, religion, negative-effectsI just read about a serial killer from the 80’s named Ridgway, and I was surprised to learn that he’d grown up in Salt Lake City. It seems his childhood was tormented by the type of mother many people who come from particular religious backgrounds complain about. As such, it seems to me that perhaps the best case to be made against religion is ‘it can produce some really nasty people.’ But have any studies been done?
John Douglas of the FBI wrote a few books on serial killers and criminal profiling. He says that many serial killers come from backgrounds of sexual repression - usually religiously based. I don’t know of any statistics he compiled but that was his feeling after a long career studying criminals. In the case of Gary Ridgway his motive appeared to be punishing prostitutes for their immoral behavior.
The question is interesting but it’s the inverse of what should be being asked. Let us instead ask, does the belief in a higher power tend to eliminate the natural human tendencies towards violence, sexual aggression, etc - more or less than rational humanism. If there were a highly religious society that was extremely peaceful and productive, that might serve as evidence of the benefits of religious belief.
Instead we find a vast and long history of brutal violence, rape, murder and all other forms of foul behavior in all religious societies.
Compare that to the emergence of rational humanistic societies. We’ve improved hygiene, lifespan, education, and made possible a life of decency and respect. Religion has fought this emerging society at every turn.
So the logical conclusion is not that it is extraordinary to find religious murderers, but instead that it is extraordinary and hopeful to find a society emerging of rational non-violent people motivated by something other than shame, prudery, intolerance and hatred.
I figure this data would not be worth too much, as the serial murderers are (hopefully) outliers. Maybe look at domestic violence or petty theft or something more prevalent.
No research directly to serial killers but I read one paper on the correlation between being religious and higher crime rates, higher rates of incest and crime. http://scholar.google.nl/scholar?q=scientific+article+relation+crime+religion&hl=nl&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart
You might find this interesting …
http://www.adherents.com/misc/adh_prison.html
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