designed to measure the value of the lives of believers and non-believers

Religion is often seen to fuel conflict, and has been the cause of wars for thousands of years.

However, a new study has found people are more likely to value the lives of believers and non-believers equally, if they take the perspective of God.

The findings could be seen to offer hope to areas of the world that are divided by beliefs and ravaged by religious wars.

a new study has found people are more likely to value the lives of believers and nonbelievers equally if they take the perspective of God. A stock image showing a prayer for peace in Jerusalem is shown

The research was carried out by scientists from the New School for Social Research in New York, alongside experts at the universities of Oxford, Carnegie Mellon and Michigan Ann Arbor as well as Paris' CNRS for the study, which used the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

It involved 555 Palestinian teenagers, between the ages of 12 and 18, living in the West Bank and Gaza, 80 per cent of whom said they prayed regularly.

The participants heard two fictional, but morally challenging dilemmas and answered questions designed to measure the value of people's lives within their own religious group and those outside it.

One story involved the question of whether a Palestinian man should be pushed from a footbridge by another man to stop a truck that would otherwise kill five children.

Study participants heard two fictional, but morally challenging, dilemmas. The study found the percentage of participants who valued Palestinian lives over Jewish Israeli lives decreased when judging from the perspective of Allah, compared with judging from their own perspective (shown above)

Scientists at the New School for Social Research in New York were joined by experts at the universities of Oxford, Carnegie Mellon and Michigan Ann Arbor as well as Paris' CNRS for the study which used the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. This stock image shows Palestinian protesters on the Gaza Strip

THE SCENARIO USED IN THE STUDY This scenario was used in the study, with variations shown in brackets 'Imagine that a man called Hadi is standing on a footbridge at night overlooking a truck as it speeds, out of control, down the road. It is clear that the driver is sleepy and out of control. 'If the truck does not stop it will kill five Palestinian [Jewish Israeli] children playing on the road. 'Hadi realises that the only way he can save the children is to jump [push the very large Palestinian] off the bridge in front of the speeding truck to stop the truck and warn the driver. 'If he does this the truck will hit him [the Palestinian man] and he will almost certainly die, but the truck will stop and the five Palestinian [Jewish Israeli] children will be saved. 'What do you think he should do?' These were options given to the participants: 1. He should jump [push the Palestinian] off the footbridge to save the children. 2. He should not jump [push the Palestinian] off the footbridge. What do you think God would approve of more? 1. Hadi jumps [pushes the Palestinian] off the footbridge to save the children. 2. Hadi does not jump [does not push the Palestinian] off the footbridge. Advertisement

In another, a Palestinian had to jump from the footbridge to save the children.

In both stories, participants judged whether the sacrificial act was preferred both from their perspective, and from the perspective of Allah.

They all responded to two versions of the same dilemma.

In the first, the children to be saved were Palestinian, and in the second, the children were Jewish Israeli.

The experts found that Muslim Palestinian participants valued Palestinian over Jewish Israeli lives when making difficult moral choices, but believed Allah preferred them to make moral decisions that valued the lives of Palestinians and Jewish Israelis more equally.

In fact, participants were 30 per cent more likely to equally endorse saving both Palestinian and Jewish-Israeli children when they took the perspective of Allah than when they took their own perspective.

This results, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, suggest a belief in God encourages more equal valuation of human life regardless of religious identity, encouraging application of universal moral rules to believers and nonbelievers alike.

'These results reveal that participants believed that they had preferences different from those of God when it came to answering certain moral dilemmas,' the study said.

'Rather than encouraging divisive tribalism, participants believed that God had relatively stronger preferences than they did to treat the value of human lives equally, regardless of religious identity.

'That is, participants believed that Allah preferred them to value the lives of Jewish Israeli and Palestinian children more equally.'