Believing in hell makes us less happy

Fire, sulfur, exile forever - hell is not a pleasant concept. However, studies that have shown faith in supernatural punishment bring many social benefits, including higher economic growth rates and less crime rates in developing countries. But, everything has two sides.

A recent study shows that belief in hell, even just thinking about it, reduces feelings of happiness and satisfaction in life.

In a new study published in January last year in the journal Plos One, associate professor of psychology Azim Shariff of Oregon University and colleagues examined the data to consider whether faith in heaven and hell. whether to affect the emotional state of everyday as well as satisfaction in life.

Not everyone believes in heaven and hell at the same time, so research focuses on those who only believe in one of the two things.

The data collected from 63 countries show that if people believe in paradise more than hell, they will feel happier and more satisfied with life. When reviewing individual responses, researchers also obtained similar results.

Heaven and hell.(Artwork: livescience.com)

However, studies do not show that people with miserable lives tend to believe in hell or believe in hell makes their lives miserable.

In search of evidence, the researchers conducted a new survey with 422 people. They were asked to write about heaven, hell or what they did the day before, then evaluate the level of 7 emotions: happiness, sadness, sin, safety, shame, fear and calm down.

The results showed that the emotional assessments of people who wrote about heaven were no different than those who wrote about the activities of the previous day. This hypothesizes that the belief in heaven alone does not make people feel happier.

Meanwhile, people who write about hell find that they feel less happy and sad more than others. This is true for non-religious people.

"Religious people tend to feel happier, or at least they say so and this may be due to the social aspect of religion," said Associate Professor Shariff. Other studies suggest that the social benefits of religion spread among those religious communities.

According to the associate professor, there are some positive explanations for the relationship between hell and the feeling of grief. Hell is a negative concept, so when writing about it, negative feelings will be aroused. It is also possible when thinking about hell, people without faith think about what they face when they do wrong.

Previous studies by the University of Kansas also show that countries in which people believe in paradise more than hell have a higher crime rate, and the farther away the belief gap, the more crime nature serious. This relationship shows that the belief in supernatural punishment restrains antisocial behavior and motivates cooperation between people.

Historically, religion appeared as a driving force for social rules and fostering faith. However, today, the effective operation of police and courts and law enforcement have constrained society without religion with more responsibilities. Researchers predict this change allows new religions not to focus on the existence of hell.

"A more positive message will help new religions attract people," Shariff said.