Do religious beliefs actually have any significant bearing on moral decision making?

[Esquilax]

Hi everyone I am doing research as to whether religious beliefs actually do affect the amount of pro-social behaviours engaged in and moral decision making. I would really appreciate it if you take the time to fill out this survey, I need a lot of participants.

Well, okay, I'm actually going to do this, because it sounds mildly interesting, though I'm not super thrilled at the tone you've taken so far here.

Please - State your Gender= Male

The current educational level you are studying for or highest attained.= Currently studying the third year of my degree at university.

Your religious beliefs(denomination of Christianity if applicable) / If not religious then whether atheist or agnostic= Born and bred atheist, and I'd currently label myself an agnostic atheist (I believe no god exists, but I don't know for sure.)

How strong you consider these beliefs from 1-9 (9 highest)= Eight. I'm fairly convinced based on the evidence, but I'll never assume complete certainty.

Do your parents have any religious beliefs?= Nope.

To what extent do you think they influenced you morally? (1-9)= Well... they certainly told me what not to do, in many cases. So I'll say one.

To what extent do you agree with the following statements from 1-9 (9 completely agree)
"Different types of morality cannot be compared as to 'rightness.'= Five? I feel like this one could be phrased a little better, it's kind of unclear.

Rigidly codifying an ethical position that prevents certain types of actions could stand in the way of better human relations and adjustment.= One. We all do this regarding some actions.

Whether a lie is judged to be moral or immoral depends upon the circumstances surrounding the action.= Seven.

No rule concerning lying can be formulated; whether a lie is permissible or not permissible totally depends upon the situation.= Ditto.

What is ethical varies from one situation and society to
another.= Four, I guess. Questions like this require longer answers than just numbers, though I do understand your need for numerical data.

If an action could harm an innocent other, then it should not be done.= Seven.

Deciding whether or not to perform an act by balancing the positive consequences of the act against the negative consequences of the act is immoral.= One.


Please answer yes or no to these situations.

1.You are standing on a bridge when an out-of-control mining cart comes into view. You can see 5 workers on the track who you suppose will be instantly killed unless you push a large rock off the bridge to stop the cart. However if you do this the cart driver will be killed. Do you push the rock? =Yeah.
2.This time instead of a rock there is a large man you could push. He and the cart driver will die but 5 workers will survive. Do you push the man?= Yeah

3. In a separate instance you can throw yourself in front of the cart, killing you and the cart driver but 5 workers will survive. Do you jump?= I hope I would.

Please answer every question as it is part of my dissertation/thesis research. I will post the full data results afterwards. Please feel free to comment on any similar topics.

I dunno how comprehensive all this is, but there you go. And again, I'd urge you to check out the prison statistics; last time I checked, the FBI had pegged the religious population of the US prison system as proportionally higher than the religious population of the US, and the atheist population as being proportionally less than the population in general.

Also, check out studies on religious fanaticism and, say, spousal abuse, or child abuse. Just saying.