誰更可能是連環(huán)殺手：宗教信徒還是無神論者？

Most people around the world, whether religious or not, presume that serial killers are more likely to be atheists than believers in any god, suggests a new study, which counters the common assumption that increasingly secular societies are equally tolerant of nonbelievers. Avowed atheists exhibited the same bias in judging sadistic criminals, the study found.

人們通常認(rèn)為，世俗化程度越高的地方，對不信神的人包容度也高，但一項最新研究的發(fā)現(xiàn)情況并非如此，該研究顯示，世界各地的大多數(shù)人，無論是否有宗教信仰，都認(rèn)為連環(huán)殺手更有可能是無神論者而非神的信徒。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，自稱是無神論者的人，在判斷兇殘的罪犯時也表現(xiàn)出了同樣的偏見。

The new report, appearing in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, included more than 3,000 people in 13 countries, both secular states like the Netherlands and Finland, and deeply religious ones like the United Arab Emirates and India. The findings suggest that, despite declining attendance at churches, mosques and temples in many communities, the cultural tenet that religion is a bulwark against immorality remains intact, experts said, even in those who deny it explicitly.

這份新報告發(fā)表在《自然-人類行為》(Nature Human Behaviour)上，它對13個國家的3000多人進(jìn)行了調(diào)查，其中既有荷蘭、芬蘭這樣的世俗國家，也有阿拉伯聯(lián)合酋長國、印度這種宗教國家。研究結(jié)果表明，盡管在許多社區(qū)，去教堂、清真寺和寺廟的人數(shù)不斷下降，但“宗教信仰可以阻止不道德行為”的文化信念仍然保持不變，專家們說，即使在那些明確否認(rèn)這一點的社群也是如此。

Previous studies had found evidence of broad-based public suspicion of nonbelievers in smaller samples within religious countries, like the United States. The new survey suggests the findings may extend globally, and it finds that the same kinds of suspicion pervade even highly secular societies.

此前對美國這樣的宗教國家曾有過樣本較小的研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)公眾對不信神的人存在根深蒂固的懷疑。而這項新調(diào)查顯示，這種情況可能在全球各地都有，哪怕是高度世俗化的社會也有同樣的懷疑。

“What’s exciting about the paper for me is that it’s a great first step,” said Richard Sosis, a professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut. “They’ve got a method that can be used to see how this bias plays out not just in judging a sociopath, but for many more mundane moral violations.”

“這篇論文令我激動的地方在于，它邁出了很好的第一步，”康涅狄格大學(xué)(University of Connecticut)人類學(xué)教授理查德·薩斯奇(Richard Sosis)表示：“他們采用了一種方法，可以用來查看這種偏見如何發(fā)揮，不僅僅是在判斷一個人是否反社會的時候，也是在研究更多輕微背德行為的時候。”

The study was as simple as it was ambitious. Led by Will M. Gervais, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Kentucky, an international team of researchers recruited samples of about 100 or more adults in 13 countries, spanning North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the antipodes. The participants filled out a short questionnaire, providing their age, ethnicity and religious affiliation or lack thereof, with choices like “atheist,” “agnostic” or “none.”

這項研究目光遠(yuǎn)大，但也很簡單。在肯塔基大學(xué)(University of Kentucky)心理學(xué)副教授威爾·M·杰維斯(Will M. Gervais)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，一個國際研究團(tuán)隊在北美、歐洲、亞洲、中東的13個國家分別采集了100名以上成年人的樣本。受訪者填寫了一份簡短的問卷，提供年齡、種族等信息，其中宗教信仰的選項包括“無神論者”、“不可知論者”或“無”等。

One item on the questionnaire began with a description of a sociopath: a man who, having tortured animals when young, later began hurting people and “has killed five homeless people that he abducted from poor neighborhoods in his home city. Their dismembered bodies are currently buried in his basement.” A question followed. Half the participants in each country got one version of the question: “Which is more probable? 1) The man is a teacher; or 2) The man is a teacher and does not believe in any gods.”

調(diào)查表上一個題目的題干描述了一個反社會者：一個男人小時候就折磨動物，后來又開始害人，他殺死了五個流浪漢，這些人是他在家鄉(xiāng)的貧民窟里綁架的，他們的尸體現(xiàn)在埋在地下室里。后面是一個問題。每個國家有一半的參與者看到的是這樣的版本：“哪種情況更有可能?1)這個男人是老師，2)這個男人是老師，并且不信任何神明。”

The other half got another version: “Which is more probable? 1) The man is a teacher; or 2) The man is a teacher and a religious believer.” The questionnaire also included several brainteasers and other questions to distract from the purpose of the study.

另一半人看到的是另一個版本：“哪種情況更有可能?1) 這個男人是老師，2) 這個男人是老師，并且信仰宗教。”問卷還包括幾個智力題和其他問題，用以掩蓋研究目的。

“We used this psychopathic serial killer because we thought that, even if people didn’t trust atheists enough to let them babysit their children, they wouldn’t necessarily assume them to be serial killers,” Dr. Gervais said.

“我們使用這個變態(tài)連環(huán)殺手的例子，是因為我們認(rèn)為，即便人們不信任無神論者，不會讓他們照顧自己的孩子，但他們不一定會認(rèn)為無神論者更有可能是連環(huán)殺手，”杰維斯說。

But they did — overwhelmingly. About 60 percent of the people who had the option to flag the teacher as an atheist did so; just 30 percent of those who had the option to flag the teacher as a religious believer did so. Self-identified nonbelievers were less biased than the average, but not by much, the study found.

但人們的確是這樣認(rèn)為的——占絕大多數(shù)。有無神論選項的問卷中，約有60%的人選擇殺手是信仰無神論的老師;而在有信仰宗教這個選項的問卷中，只有30%的人選擇殺手是有宗教信仰的老師。這項研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，自認(rèn)為沒有宗教信仰的人的偏見程度低于平均水平，但也沒有低很多。

As expected, the bias was stronger in highly religious countries, like the United Arab Emirates, than in more secular ones, like New Zealand. Dr. Gervais, whose work explores bias against nonbelievers, had publicly backed off some of his own earlier studies, finding them too small to be convincing. “This time we got the numbers, and the effect was clear,” he said.

和預(yù)期的一樣，和新西蘭等更世俗的國家相比，阿聯(lián)酋等宗教信仰氣息濃厚的國家偏見更深。杰維斯的研究方向是針對無神論者的偏見，他公開否定了自己之前的一些研究，認(rèn)為它們的規(guī)模太小，沒有說服力。“這一次，我們得到了足夠多的樣本，結(jié)果很明顯，”他說。

The relationship between religious belief and moral behavior is, in fact, not well understood. Some studies find that devout believers live more morally upright lives, compared with nonbelievers; others find no differences at all. The research is plagued by differing definitions of what moral behavior is and what constitutes true religious devotion (e.g., self-identification, or daily ritual?). Even the definition of nonbelief is a moving target: A person may identify as atheist, agnostic, “lapsed” or merely indifferent depending on his or her mood and understanding of those terms.

實際上，宗教信仰和道德行為之間的關(guān)系沒有被很好地理解。有些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，同沒有宗教信仰的人相比，虔誠的宗教信徒過著更有道德的生活，但也有些研究完全沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)任何差別。這項研究的難點在于弄清道德行為的各種不同定義，以及真正的宗教虔誠究竟由哪些元素構(gòu)成(比如，自我認(rèn)同，還是日常儀式?)。甚至連“無宗教信仰者”這個定義也無法確定：一個人可能會根據(jù)自己的心情或者對這些術(shù)語的理解，聲稱自己是無神論者、不可知論者、“已停止信教”，或者僅僅是對此漠不關(guān)心。

The urge to impute beliefs, motives and mental states to mass murderers, moreover, is often misplaced, experts said. Some mass killers clearly commit atrocities because of their professed religious beliefs, like terrorists. But modern history’s register of assorted serial killers, spree shooters and other mortal predators is a rogue’s gallery of mostly male, aggrieved actors who are sometimes believers, sometimes not, and who half the time do not qualify for any specific psychiatric diagnosis, as disturbed as they are, according to an analysis of more than 200 such killers by Dr. Michael Stone, a New York forensic psychiatrist.

另外，專家表示，從信仰、動機(jī)和精神狀態(tài)的角度去分析大規(guī)模屠殺者往往是不合適的。有些大規(guī)模屠殺者做出那些暴行顯然是因為他們自稱的宗教信仰，比如恐怖分子。但是根據(jù)紐約司法精神病學(xué)家邁克爾·斯通博士(Michael Stone)對200多名連環(huán)殺手、大規(guī)模槍擊殺手以及其他殺人成性者的分析，現(xiàn)代歷史上對此類殺手的記錄就像一個暴徒展覽館，其中大多是憤憤不平的男性，他們有很多層面，有時信仰宗教，有時又不信，有一半的時間不符合任何具體的精神病診斷，因為他們的精神狀況很混亂。

A large number — perhaps 25 percent, in Dr. Stone’s estimation — showed evidence of paranoid schizophrenia, which is characterized by delusional thinking. Those delusions, often enough, are infused with religious symbolism.

很多大規(guī)模殺手——據(jù)斯通估計，大約有25%——表現(xiàn)出妄想型精神分裂癥的癥狀，其特點就是會產(chǎn)生妄想。而那些妄想經(jīng)常充滿宗教象征意義。