This is another great reason to be non-religious, or at least to believe in a loving creator rather than a wrathful one. A new study links the belief in a vengeful, wrathful, angry god to various psychiatric disorders, The Raw Story reports. The April Edition of the Journal of Religion and Health reports on a study conducted by Professor Nava Stilton, Assistant Psychology Professor at Marymount Manhattan College, which finds that there is a link between beliefs and various psychiatric disorders.

Using what is known as Evolutionary Threat Assessment Theory, Stilton finds that there is linkage between beliefs and disorders like paranoia, social dysfunction, obsession, and compulsion. This theory suggests that there is a part of the brain specifically designed to detect threats, and that flawed perceptions of those threats can cause dysfunction in these centers of the brain, causing various anxiety disorders.





Just like previous studies in this realm, Stilton controlled the study by weeding out non- believers, but including three different groups: those who think God is angry, those who think God is neutral, and those who think God is loving. Indeed, those who believe in a loving God, says Stilton, actually have positive psychological effects. However, she did wish to stress:

We are not looking at casual findings here. We are looking at correlational findings. That means we’re not saying belief caused psychiatric symptoms, but we see relationships between beliefs and these psychiatric symptoms.”

Now, as an atheist, I haven’t believed in any sort of creator in years, and, if I am completely truthful, likely never needed to. I do find it interesting that my own theories were correct, though. The fear and anxiety I grew up with due to fundamentalist belief in an angry, wrathful God who would punish me magically disappeared when I realized it was all a crock. This is something for those people bleating on about hell and sin and whatnot should think of next time they condemn others. There is no need to believe in a God that will punish you for eternity; in fact, it might be to your detriment to hold such beliefs.