Belief in Divine Forgiveness, Evil, and Biblical Literalism and Mental Health

Abstract

The chapter discusses research on mental health and a few religious beliefs that have received little attention. The findings described in this chapter mainly come from a handful of large national studies. One of these studies, which investigated the association of psychiatric symptoms with belief in Divine forgiveness and belief in human evil found: (a) belief in forgiveness from God was associated with lower anxiety-related symptoms, (b) the belief that human nature is basically evil was associated with higher anxiety-related symptoms, and (c) that belief in Divine forgiveness countered the pernicious association of belief in human evil on anxiety-related symptoms. Other findings reported in the chapter are that belief in Divine forgiveness has a salubrious association with psychological well-being and depression and that belief in Satan has a pernicious association with psychiatric symptoms. From the perspective of ETAS Theory, the belief one has been forgiven by God implies belief in a benevolent God who is involved one’s life, which provides a sense of safety that reduces psychiatric symptoms. Beliefs in Satan and human evil imply direct threats of harm from human and supernatural beings, both of which increase psychiatric symptoms. The interaction between belief in human evil and belief in Divine forgiveness confirms the ETAS Theory proposition that beliefs interaction with one another in their effects on psychiatric symptomology. Finally, the chapter discusses evidence that belief in Biblical literalism influences whether people seek help for psychiatric problems from clergy or mental-health professionals and examines the association between Biblical literalism and psychiatric symptomology.