Yom Kippur was celebrated yesterday, and based on data from a survey conducted by the Israeli Congress last year, about 53% of the Jewish public fasts there, including 16% of secular Jews, and it can be assumed that far more than the number of people who fast come to synagogue for at least one prayer. But what causes people who do not observe daily mitzvot to mark this holiday, or other holidays such as the Seder (which is observed by no less than 84% of Israeli Jews)? A new study presents a partial but interesting answer to this question. We used ChatGPT to draw the following conclusions:
The study, published last week in Social Psychological and Personality Science, reveals a rather intriguing psychological tendency: People from different religious backgrounds perceive curiosity about religion as morally virtuous. Although this is a study that took place in the United States, it is reasonable to assume that it also applies to Israel, since Jews also participated in it (and given the composition of the Jewish population in the United States, it is reasonable to assume that Jews in Israel present the same bias much more dramatically).
The study, led by Sindel White of York University, included thousands of participants, including 1,249 Christians, 102 Jews, 26 Muslims, 94 members of other faiths and 308 atheists. It consisted of 4 experiments, which examined the assessment of the morality of Christians and Jews towards people with religious and scientific curiosity and knowledge and the reasons why people with religious or scientific curiosity think that people with religious or scientific curiosity are more moral than others. The findings showed that participants attributed higher morality to those who demonstrated religious and scientific curiosity – compared to those who did not exhibit such curiosity on the one hand, but also compared to those who did not need it because they were already equipped with a great deal of knowledge on the subject on the other.
What is particularly fascinating is that the positive perception of curiosity transcends religious boundaries: whether Jewish, Christian or members of other religions, participants tended to perceive curious people in a more positive way. This suggests that the concept of religious curiosity as moral is not limited to a specific belief.
One intriguing aspect of the study was religious people's attitudes toward curiosity about science: despite stereotypes linking religious beliefs to anti-scientific sentiments, the study indicated that most religious participants view scientific curiosity positively. This may indicate that curiosity is perceived as positive, both when directed at religion and when directed at science.
In the last two experiments, the researchers found that the reason for the positive perception of curiosity – both religious and scientific – is probably that curiosity is perceived as a trait that reflects an individual's willingness to make an effort to succeed in life. Members of all religions showed a tendency to perceive those who made an effort to satisfy their religious and scientific curiosity as more moral than those who tried less.
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