A study found societies that believe in hell have better behavior than those believing only in heaven. The speaker uses California's theft problem, where $900 worth of goods are stolen from stores, as evidence that without belief in punishment, people act worse.
Academics did a study. They were not even religious. They did a study of societies and communities that believed in hell versus societies that only believed in heaven. And hey, we're shocked. People acted better in the communities where there was belief in hell than in the communities where there was belief only in heaven. Yeah, it's, it's pretty obvious, right? As California is a living example, there's no punishment if you steal $900 worth of goods from a store. So there's a lot of stealing of $900 worth of goods from stores. Isn't that— isn't that— that is really unexpected.
Life, Legacy, and a Dangerous Mission in the Soviet Union | Sunday Fireside Chat
