Religion and lies

Are religious people more likely to lie? Even though lies are condemned as sin throughout scripture, a study published in an economics journal has raised eyebrows. 

A subject’s major of study, the marital status of their parents, whether or not they were raised by a single parent, religious importance and whether or not the subjects came to collect their pay were important explanatory variables.

The researchers found that deception for financial gain was more likely if you were a business major, your parents are divorced, or you rated religion as more important in your life. Not surprisingly perhaps, the media tended to focus on the link between religiosity and dishonesty.

Incongruous as it sounds, a new Canadian study discovers that the more importance people place on religion, the more likely they are to lie for financial gain. The lead researcher hypothesizes that this “really strange effect” is the result of the faithful feeling less kinship with the secular, and ultimately less concern about screwing them over for a few bucks.

Many studies have found that business majors and children of divorce are more likely to lie for financial game so these findings raised few eyebrows. Of course, that complacency is disturbing and deserves attention.

Consider the relationship between business majors and lies. Does business management as a profession attract people driven by greed and hence more likely to lie to get ahead? Or, are business majors taught to bend and spin the truth as part of a well-designed marketing strategy? Either way, it suggests that ethical bankruptcy is likely to be pervasive in many corporations. That sounds like a bad thing to me but is hardly buzz-worthy for the media. I am shocked.

Divorce appears to trigger deceitful behavior in children. Now that seems like another noteworthy finding since it suggests that children may learn the wrong lessons from the violations of trust by their parents. So why doesn't this pattern get more attention in the media?

As for the link between religiosity and lying for financial gain, the researchers speculate that it is a function of what might be thought of as tribalism. Since the person being lied to is not part of one's established safe circle of religious friends, it becomes more acceptable. The lead investigator put it this way:

“My suspicion is that they feel like the receiver isn’t part of their group, and that creates a feeling of otherness. That otherness leads to feelings of detachment that can increase willingness to lie."

As might expected, evangelical atheists were pleased to see the study findings. To their credit, the folks over at the Friendly Atheist were more circumspect. If tribalism is the problem, then perhaps nonreligious people would consider lying more acceptable if the victim is one of those religious types.

But let’s not beat our collective chest just yet. If Childs is right that tribalism facilitates deceiving “others,” researchers may well find that non-believers are the more financially dishonest group in the North American population at large. That’s because, given that the majority of people are religious, nones may assume that the most likely victims of their dishonesty will be people of faith.

What is somewhat surprising in all of this discussion is that everyone seems to be overlooking one incongruous piece of the puzzle. In this study there was no relationship between religious observance and lying. In other words, people that attend church or pray more often were not more likely to lie. That asymmetry is fascinating.

Perhaps if you claim religion to be important in your life but do not bother to worship or pray then maybe you are more prone to lie for financial gain. Maybe even your claim to value religion is deceptive since it is not backed up by meaningful action.

The study focused on college students. Moving away from parental influence lends itself to exploration and weakening of indoctrinated values. A young adult from a religious family might rate religion to be important in their lives because of their upbringing, but not worship or pray when away from their parents. I would not be surprised if these are the study participants driving the association between religiosity and deceit for financial gain.

Discrepancy between professed belief and behavior is interesting. You can find plenty of people who claim to believe in God but do not attend worship services or pray regularly. These are the Christmas and Easter crowd among Christians or the High Holy Days crowd among Jews.  However, you will not find many who behave like they are devout but rate religion as unimportant in their lives.

The researchers seem prone to the "glass half full" seduction. In their minds, the fact that only half the study participants lied is a pleasant surprise.

The good news is that nearly half the study’s participants opted to tell the truth, even though the experimental design ensured their anonymity, and thus no consequences to lying beyond a guilty conscience. 

“That, to me, was pretty remarkable,” Childs said. “People are dishonest far less often than we think.”

It is a sad commentary on our society and human behavior that a 50% honesty rate is considered remarkable. It is remarkable but only as a failure. Lying undermines trust in relationships. And if you can get half the population to lie for a small financial gain, then how many more will be tempted when the stakes are even higher? Perhaps we humans are prone to lie, cheat, and steal. Sin is clearly alive and well.