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Key points
- The majority of Americans believe in Hell and Satan.
- These beliefs are associated with sexually prohibitive attitudes.
- Abstinence only education, however, doesn't prevent risky sexual behaviour.
In a 2003 study, more than 70% of Americans reported believing in Satan and Hell. A 2018 study of Americans found that only 18% are certain that there is no devil.
Now, surely the belief that an evil force could (and will) punish you, whether in this life or an afterlife, has major consequences. Two women or men marrying? Sex before marriage? Those things take on an entirely new range of problems if you believe you are protecting yourself (and others) from a devil that has eternal torment powers. Hard to leave much room for differences in opinion and preferences in that scenario. The fire awaits (or whatever other punishments people conjure up for the devil)!
Recent research explored these beliefs in relation to sexual attitudes. People who believed in evil religious beings were more likely to oppose abortion (across all circumstances), pre-marital sex, same-sex relationships, cohabitation before marriage, and usage of pornography. This was the case even when controlling for a variety of views about God (judgmental), church attendance, various demographics (e.g., gender), and political orientation. That is, even when accounting for the influence of those variables, belief in religious evil still remained a significant predictor of belief that all those actions are immoral.
This research got me thinking of several other areas of research, namely findings that show that teenagers who attend abstinence only sex-education programs are just as likely as other teenagers to engage in sex, engage in sex without protection, get STIs, and get pregnant.
Given that these classes are often taught in religious settings, with participants who likely believe in Hell and demons, this raises an interesting paradox. On one hand, we have a nation full of people who believe in Hell, and these beliefs are associated with prohibitive sexual attitudes. On the other hand, teaching prohibitive sexual attitudes seems to have no impact whatsoever on sexual behaviour.
Hormones are powerful things.
Belief in Hell impacts more than just attitudes. One study of over 70 countries found that belief in Hell is associated with less criminal behaviour. Interestingly, this was not the case for belief in Heaven. This is consistent with other research showing that belief in punishing God(s) reduces people's tendency to retaliate when wronged, and that having people think about God's forgiveness actually increased cheating behavior on experimental tasks.
Belief in Hell also impacts well-being. Cross-culturally, belief in Hell is associated with more negative emotions in the population. Belief in Heaven is associated with positive emotions.
