When God Sanctions Violence, Believers Act More Aggressively

[Richard D]

Science Daily — Reading violent scriptures increases aggressive behavior, especially among believers, a new study finds. The study by University of Michigan social psychologist Brad Bushman and colleagues helps to illuminate one of the ways that violence and behavior are linked.

"To justify their actions, violent people often claim that God has sanctioned their behavior," said Bushman, faculty associate at the U-M Institute for Social Research and lead author of the article published in the March 2007 issue of Psychological Science. "Christian extremists, Jewish reactionaries and Islamic fundamentalists all can cite scriptures that seem to encourage or at least support aggression against unbelievers."

(snip)

After reporting their religious affiliations and beliefs, participants read a passage adapted from the King James Bible that described a woman's brutal murder and her husband's revenge on her attackers. Half the participants were told that the passage came from the Old Testament, half that it came from an ancient scroll found by archeologists. Half the participants from each of these groups read a version of the passage that included a sentence in which God commanded his followers to take arms against others.

More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070305202614.htm

[Nikki Stone1]

1. VIolent scripture is as bad as violent TV: all about giving permission

:kick:

[zeemike]

2. That seems so self evident

Why a study to prove it fuhrer?
What would be a better study would be how and why do these followers convince others it is justified by god when it is clearly not.

[Bill McBlueState]

3. that's one of the functions of science

Experimenters start with a proposition that seems self-evident. Then, they devise a test to see whether the proposition really is true, or whether it's a product of our perceptions. Even if our suppositions about the world are merely confirmed instead of overturned, we now have the data to argue our point to those who disagree.

Back in the day, it seemed self-evident that heavy objects fall faster than light ones. Galileo did an experiment, and two thousand years of supposition was overturned.

[zeemike]

9. Well enough

But it seems to me that the most interesting and useful information is the how and why of it all, at least in this case where something needs to be changed.
It will do little good to point out or prove to the fundies that they justify violence with god, they already know that and so do we.
But how they do it is another matter. De-construct that little game and you have them on the ropes. And in this case the guy on the rope is the dope.

The only problem with this scientific approach is that science does not know much about the bible because they feel it is all myths and legends and so they would have to learn about it before they could find fact.
Instead they want to just make it all nonsense which is enabling the fundies and emboldening them to stand against the unbelievers like the great heroes.
All that are left to oppose the fundies now are the true believers in Jesus which do know the bible and know how the fundies use it in the most negative of ways. And the true believers have no voice and no funding through grants or other resources to oppose the fundies and so they prosper in there using the bible to their own ends.
Science could help make the fundies a thing of the past if they could only tolerate the ones that truly believe.

[Cabcere]

6. "Prove it fuhrer" - typo?

Or an eerily appropriate Freudian slip? :shrug:

(I'm not usually a "spelling Nazi," btw - that just caught my eye. Peace.)

[zeemike]

8. Ooops

The intent was a typo, but it could have been a Freudian slip of the fingers.

[OneBlueSky]

4. what does God want for all of her children? . . . one answer is "wisdom" . . .

"When I use the word 'wisdom,' I think of the definition that the Native American tradition gives us: that the people may live. I am very at home with this understanding of wisdom. I believe it encompasses the breadth and depth of cosmic and human living, and I believe it names what God the Creator wants for all of her children: that the people of this precious earth, all global peoples, may live. Bangladesh people, old people, hungry children people, robust adolescent people, people in socialist countries, people in capitalist countries -- that the people may live.

"But wisdom wants the people to live. What does that mean? Obviously that they not die before their time. But what else does it mean? To live is not merely to survive. Living implies beauty, freedom of choice, giving birth, discipline, celebration. Living is not the same as going shopping or buying, nor is it the same as making a nest in which to escape the sufferings of one another. Living has something to do with Eros, love of life, and with the love of others' lives, others' right to Eros and dignity. Here lies wisdom: that the people may live."

Matthew Fox, Original Blessing

[zeemike]

10. Well said Blue Sky n/t

[gratuitous]

5. Got that right

The belief in redemptive violence, a religion that defies practically every real world application, continues to hold thrall over the minds of much of mankind regardless of religious persuasion. Curiously, three of the smallest denominations in Christendom are the historic peace churches: The Quakers, the Mennonites and the Church of the Brethren.

Difficult to fathom how the message of the Prince of Peace, so vocally and vociferously expressed by the Bible Belt, has come to result in so many of their sons and daughters signing up for military service.

[Bill McBlueState]

7. Prince of Peace

Heck, even the "Prince of Peace" is believed to have said stuff about swords and division. I'm sure more knowledgeable people can spin those sayings appropriately, but the world would be so much better if the god(s) had been more explicitly opposed to war.

[zeemike]

11. But Jesus was explicitly opposed to all forms of violence

And a once through reading of what he said will prove it.
But the uninformed will not know that Jesus was also a prophet the told his disciples about the future and the often used phrase "Think not that I am come to bring peace to the earth but a sword" was a part of the prophesy that everyone now knows was true. But just because he predicted a violent future for mankind does not mean the he endorsed it in any way.
He made that point clearly in his Sermon on the mount.
Nor did he endorse the destruction of the Temple when he told his disciples : "See this temple, I tell you not one stone will be left standing on the other." it was a prophesy that came literally true in 70AD when the Romans burned the temple and took it apart stone by stone to retrieve the gold that had melted into the cracks.
Knowledge about the bible is a powerful thing when your opponent is using it against you.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Baloney.

This is more warmed over "violent video games causes violence" crap.

Maybe there's a correlation. No causation.

[GeorgeGist]

13. God?

Scripture is written by Men.

[GreenZoneLT]

14. Ah HA! It's that cocksucker God behind it.

I knew that bearded old fuck was up to no good. Inciting to riot now, eh, Your Omnipotence?