The Psychology of Religion

When it comes to religion, in my mind at least, there are so many unanswered questions.
Not only questions of truth, but questions of how religion effects the subconscious. Growing up
in a catholic family, I quickly learned that church was of high importance. But what really
intrigued me was WHY it was so important. Was it important because my parents told me it was,
or was it important because belief in a creator makes one a better person? So when it came time
to pick a topic for this research paper, I decided to let my interests get the best of me and began
to research the connection between religion and psychology. Im not really sure what to expect
from doing this research. Who knows if my own personal belief will become stronger or become
weaker? I do expect to find correlation between religion and psychology, but I also know with
the lack of scientific evidence between the two, there may not be the strongest evidence.
Regardless, I also believe that my research may help me answer questions that Ive had for a
long time, and I believe that any research that furthers one intellect is well worth doing.
The first article I came across was entitled Humans may be Primed to Believe in Creation
by Ewen Callaway. Callaway describes a study done by psychologist Deborah Kelemen on
erroneous thinking. Erroneous thinking can be commonly seen in children, and is described as
believing in false statements because of the lack of scientific knowledge. Birds exist to make
nice music.(Kelemen) is a prime example of erroneous thinking. The study consisted of
presenting 230 university students with statements, some true, some false, and many erroneous
statements. The students were then given a short amount of time (approximately 5 seconds) to
answer whether the answers were simply true or false. The results showed that most people
believe that the Earth is designed and maintained for life.(Callaway) It seems that most people
believe that the only purpose of the Earth is to be a place for humans to live, and that it was

created solely for human beings. However, Kelemen also performed another study with a new
group of students, to try to rid her experiment of culture bias. This time she also asked about the
volunteers religious beliefs. Her results were the same as the first experiment, yet non-believers
made the same errors as those with strong religious beliefs. This proves that maybe it isnt a
really human instinct that makes one believe, but the lack of education.
Now not only filled with questions about the psychological relationship to religion, I was
now curious about the relationship between education and religious beliefs. I then came across
the article Intelligent People Less Likely to Believe in God by Graeme Paton. Graemes article
showcases emeritus Professor Richard Lynn of Ulster University. Professor Lynn believes that
the decline in religion over the last century is linked with the rise of intelligence. Lynn also stated
that most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence and their
intelligence increases many started to have doubts.( Paton) While Professor Lynns research is
mainly based off of statistical data, it gives interesting correlations between religion and
education. Lynn also stated that religious belief had declined across 137 developed nations in
the 20th century at the same time as people became more intelligent.(Paton) Yet when describing
a complex subject such as religion, it doesnt seem fair to try to make simplistic judgments off of
two topics that may seem to have a correlation but actually do not. Although the validity of the
statistical information that Professor Lynn brings forth may be misconstrued, it still may hold
some evidence. Dr. David Hardman, a lecturer in learning development at London Metropolitan
University said It is very difficult to conduct true experiments that would explicate a casual
relationship between IQ and religious belief. Nonetheless, there is evidence from other domains
that higher levels of intelligence are associated with a greater ability or perhaps willingness- to
question and overturn strongly felt institutions.(Paton) So only further studies can potentially

prove this relationship between education and religions, but for now I think Professor Lynns
theory should not be forgotten.
The last article I reviewed delved into the topic of the relationship between health and
religion. The article entitled Most Doctors See Religion as Beneficial, Study Says by Nicholas
Bakalar reviews a research study that was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that
focuses on Doctors and their belief if religion actually plays apart in their patients health. The
research questioned a total of 1,144 doctors, which fewer than 10 percent had any religious
affiliation.(Bakalar) The study results show that religious physicians were seven times as likely
than those with no religious beliefs to believe that religion has a large effect on health. However
the study suggested that the large amount of doctors who believed that religion effected health,
were more inclined to speak about religion with patients because of their own beliefs. So while it
seems that even though a general consensus of well educated people may believe religion
actually have an effect on health, it may just be the staggering amount of information doctors
who share beliefs with their patients are able to learn compared to doctors who do not share
common beliefs with their patients.
After reviewing these articles I found a lot of intriguing information but left with more
questions than I started with. However, I fully noticed how the lack of scientific evidence, and
even the lack of a scientific way to study religion can effect results. I believe that the questions I
have may follow me for the rest of my life. But I have also realized that even though it may seem
impossible to answer these questions, it doesnt mean one should stop searching. It is obvious
that something is having an effect on peoples lives. Whether it is a real creator, or the strong
beliefs that mentally affect a person, something is happening, and to me that is something worth
studying. I am glad that I researched this topic because it has let me know that Im not the only

one with questions about creation. Its always a good use of time when one can further their
intellect on a subject as well as find comfort in knowing, or in this case not knowing.