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Belief in Divine Forgiveness, Evil, and Biblical Literalism and Mental Health

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Religious Beliefs, Evolutionary Psychiatry, and Mental Health in America

Part of the book series: Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach ((RELSPHE,volume 1))

Abstract

The chapter discusses research on mental health and a few religious beliefs that have received little attention. The findings described in this chapter mainly come from a handful of large national studies. One of these studies, which investigated the association of psychiatric symptoms with belief in Divine forgiveness and belief in human evil found: (a) belief in forgiveness from God was associated with lower anxiety-related symptoms, (b) the belief that human nature is basically evil was associated with higher anxiety-related symptoms, and (c) that belief in Divine forgiveness countered the pernicious association of belief in human evil on anxiety-related symptoms. Other findings reported in the chapter are that belief in Divine forgiveness has a salubrious association with psychological well-being and depression and that belief in Satan has a pernicious association with psychiatric symptoms. From the perspective of ETAS Theory, the belief one has been forgiven by God implies belief in a benevolent God who is involved one’s life, which provides a sense of safety that reduces psychiatric symptoms. Beliefs in Satan and human evil imply direct threats of harm from human and supernatural beings, both of which increase psychiatric symptoms. The interaction between belief in human evil and belief in Divine forgiveness confirms the ETAS Theory proposition that beliefs interaction with one another in their effects on psychiatric symptomology. Finally, the chapter discusses evidence that belief in Biblical literalism influences whether people seek help for psychiatric problems from clergy or mental-health professionals and examines the association between Biblical literalism and psychiatric symptomology.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The sample sizes of the surveys of the state university students ranged from 124 to 221 participants and the sample size of the survey of the students in the small religious college was 116 participants.

  2. 2.

    The age groups were 18–44 years, 45–64 years, and 65 years and older.

  3. 3.

    The regression analyses controlled for frequency of private prayer and attending religious services, demographic variables, social support, life stressors, and belief in human evil.

  4. 4.

    The response options ranged from “never” to “many times” on a 5-point scale.

  5. 5.

    One study used data from the 1987 GSS and the other used data from the 1996 GSS. The belief that human nature is basically evil was measured in both studies by combining respondents’ agreement with the statements: “Human nature is fundamentally perverse and corrupt,” and “Human nature is basically good,” which was reversed scored. Both studies controlled for demographic characteristics, adverse life events, and religious variables.

  6. 6.

    Belief in human evil was measured by combining respondents’ agreement with the statements: “Human nature is basically evil,” and “Human nature is basically good” (reversed scored).

  7. 7.

    The study analyzed data from the 1996 GSS.

  8. 8.

    Biblical literalism was measured by a participant’s response to the question, “Which one statements comes closest to your personal belief about the Bible?”: 4 (“The Bible means exactly what it says. It should be taken literally, word-for-word, on all subjects.”); 3 (“The Bible is perfectly true but it should not be taken literally, word-for-word. We must interpret its meaning.”); 2 (“The Bible contains some human error.”), and 1 (“The Bible is an ancient book of history and legend.”).

    Evangelicalism was measured by a participant’s response to the following question. “How well do the following terms describe your religious identity?” Over a dozen terms were listed, including “Evangelical.” The response categories were: 4 (“Very well”); 3 (“Somewhat well”); 2 (“Not very well”), and 1 (“Not at all”).

    Depression was measured by the question: “During the past 30 days, how many days have you felt sad, blue, or depressed? The response categories were: 4 (“All 30 days”); 3 (“21–29 days”); 2 (“11–20 day”), and 1 (“1–10 days”) and 0 (“None”).

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  1. Center for Psychosocial Research, Massapequa, NY, USA

    Kevin J. Flannelly

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Flannelly, K.J. (2017). Belief in Divine Forgiveness, Evil, and Biblical Literalism and Mental Health. In: Religious Beliefs, Evolutionary Psychiatry, and Mental Health in America. Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52488-7_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52488-7_24

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