Thinking from God’s perspective decreases biased valuation of the life of a nonbeliever

Abstract

Religious belief is often thought to motivate violence because it is said to promote norms that encourage tribalism and the devaluing of the lives of nonbelievers. If true, this should be visible in the multigenerational violent conflict between Palestinians and Israelis which is marked by a religious divide. We conducted experiments with a representative sample of Muslim Palestinian youth (n = 555), examining whether thinking from the perspective of Allah (God), who is the ultimate arbitrator of religious belief, changes the relative value of Jewish Israelis’ lives (compared with Palestinian lives). Participants were presented with variants of the classic “trolley dilemma,” in the form of stories where a man can be killed to save the lives of five children who were either Jewish Israeli or Palestinian. They responded from their own perspective and from the perspective of Allah. We find that whereas a large proportion of participants were more likely to endorse saving Palestinian children than saving Jewish Israeli children, this proportion decreased when thinking from the perspective of Allah. This finding raises the possibility that beliefs about God can mitigate bias against other groups and reduce barriers to peace.

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: A Systematic Review of 30 Years of Research

“…The intervention did not significantly affect smoking attitudes or behaviors. The second study was a basic research experiment of religious beliefs as potential motivators for violence (Ginges, Sheikh, Atran, & Argo, 2016). Findings demonstrate how beliefs about God can exacerbate or mitigate prejudice.…”

God Values the Lives of My Out-Group More Than I Do: Evidence From Fiji and Israel

“…We ask whether individuals believe God prefers humans to make moral choices in a more universal or parochial manner. We refer to universal reasoning as the application of moral norms regardless of the social identity of people involved in a given situation (Ginges, Sheikh, Atran, & Argo, 2016;Obeid, Argo, & Ginges, 2017). By parochial moral, we mean the application of moral norms in a manner that favors the religious in-group over religious out-groups.…”

“…One study directly examined the moral preferences attributed to God in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an intractable conflict that falls on religious lines (Ginges et al, 2016). Palestinian youth were presented variants of a moral dilemma involving trading the life of one Muslim Palestinian man to save either five Muslim Palestinian or Jewish Israeli children.…”

Actitudes religiosas, valores y razonamiento moral prosocial en una muestra adolescente

“…Por su parte, Norenzayan & Shariff (2008) comprobaron que la relación entre la religión y la predisposición prosocial es específica del contexto, de manera que la gente que está en entornos religiosos tiene mayores tendencias prosociales. Cabe destacar el estudio desarrollado por Ginges, Sheikh, Atran, & Argo (2016) con una muestra palestina, en el cual se documentó que aquellos participantes que consideraron la perspectiva de Dios (i.e., Allah) al momento de lidiar con un dilema moral, evidenciaron una menor tendencia a sacrificar miembros de otro grupo (i.e., niños judíos israelís) comparados a miembros del grupo propio (i.e., niños palestinos).…”