A British survey has found that Catholics are the most adulterous religious group in the UK.
The research showed that 21.5 percent of the 600,000 members on an extra-marital dating site were Catholic — a high figure for the UK as Catholics make up just 10 percent of the population.
The research found that Church of England followers are more faithful than Catholics, atheists or agnostics with the most loyal spouses being either Jewish or Methodists the UK’s Daily Mail reported.
Harley Street social therapist Christine Elvin, said that people who subscribe to stricter religions, may be more likely to cheat.
“In tight structured relationships the pressure is huge, religious boundaries can create many rules and to obey them all could result in some feeling suffocated and tempted to escape so they can feel alive again,” she said.
“To be religious does not automatically make you a good person; religious people aren’t always immune from the trials and tribulations that affect others.
“Religious texts have given us a tool on how to live and how not to live. Some religious beliefs can cause much pain and guilt, being obedient and powerless can cause ‘irrational guilt’ leading to depression.”
The research found that three religions that have the strictest rules when it comes to fidelity, are also the three that are statistically the most likely to cheat.
“Many can get wrapped up in the idea that being good is more important than being happy,” Elvin said.
“Needs are not met, so psychological problems appear, causing some people to seek out happiness elsewhere.”
Spokesperson for Illicit Encounters, a UK website which offers confidential extra-marital affairs dating service for married women and men, Rosie Freeman-Jones said religious people liked to break the rules.
“Religious people have a much stronger sense of right and wrong, which also means they’re likely to get a bigger thrill from breaking the rules,” she said.
“For some people, affairs are about being ‘naughty’, and because religious people are instilled from a young age with a set of concrete morals, being naughty for them holds much more of a kick than for your average agnostic or atheist.”
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