We’re often told that religion makes people better. It turns out, it actually reinforces any behavior, even immoral behavior.

The U.S. study found that through “purposeful distortion or genuine ignorance,” hardcore criminals often co-opt religious doctrine to justify or further their crimes. The findings could have important implications, the researchers say, for how faith-based services are administered within the corrections system. Prison ministries shouldn’t just be about presenting religious doctrine because some inmates might take religious teachings to excuse their behaviour, lead author Volkan Topalli, a criminal justice professor at Georgia State University, said in an interview Monday.

Wait, you mean people just have a habit of saying that god endorses their behavior, whatever it is (while claiming that god’s instructions to everybody else are not “True” Christianity)? You mean that a god forgives you for anything, not for contrition, but just for believing the proper absurdity, could make people think they’re morally off the hook for…anything?

Who’d have thunk it? I mean, aside from every atheist who has been screaming it for the last few decades…