Yahoo News Here’s why so many societies believe in vengeful Gods, according to science
The sort of vengeful, punitive God seen in the Old Testament might have been a factor in helping humans form larger societies, a new study has suggested.
Researchers from Harvard University recruited 2228 people from Asia, Africa and South America, who practised religions including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and ancestor worship.
In a psychological coin game, the volunteers were asked to ‘share’ coins between themselves and others, including people from their own religious group.
The researchers found that people who believed in punitive, vengeful gods were more likely to share their coins with people of the same religion, even if they were far away.
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The researchers believe that the result may indicate that religion was a key factor in allowing early humans to cooperate on a large scale.
Researcher Martin Lang at Harvard University said, ‘In two experiments with 2228 participants from 15 populations, ratings of gods as monitoring and punishing predicted resource-sharing with co-religionists.
‘Sharing with outgroups varied between sites: in the absence of intergroup hostility, moralizing gods may promote cooperation with outgroups.
