Mental Health

Alcohol Makes Religious People More Belligerent

By Christine Hsu | Update Date: Aug 15, 2014 05:20 PM EDT

Never offer priests or ministers alcohol unless you're determined to get them discharged or excommunicated.

New research reveals that people with higher levels of spirituality and religiosity are significantly more likely than their less religious counterparts to become aggressive and violent when inebriated. 

In fact, American researchers found a dose response between religious views and aggression. Researchers found a dose response between aggression and spirituality.  Study authors found that the stronger the individual's views about religion and spirituality were, the higher the hostility and aggression they exhibited while drinking.

 Lead researcher Professor Peter Giancola of University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences said the findings suggest that people are more likely to oversimplify when their under the influence of alcohol.

"Oversimplifying - in many cases the more religious someone is, the more aggressive they will become after drinking alcohol," Giancola added, according to Daily Mail.

The latest study involved 520 people between the ages of 21 and 35. All participants were from the central Kentucky region.

Researcher randomly distributed alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks after participants were surveyed about their spiritual beliefs.

 While violence generally decreases as spirituality increase in individuals who didn't drink alcohol, the latest study revealed that violence increased as spirituality increased in people who drank alcohol.

While the study showed that alcohol '"releases the beast within" in highly religious and conservative people, researchers have no idea why it happens.

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