The Salt Lake Tribune published an article today on whether religious people make particularly easy targets for scam artists. The article concludes that they do because “a swindler who professes the same faith, or belongs to the same congregation, has an easy time of earning trust, however misplaced. Duped investors, meanwhile, also hesitate to suspect or report on one of their own.”
The author also quotes a professor from Notre Dame named David E. Campbell, co-author of the new book “American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us,” who concludes that religious people tend to be more trusting of others. In an interview, Campbell said “the strong social networks found in some faith communities, such as ‘the tight bonds among Mormons,’ seems to make them especially vulnerable to fraud.”
Just more confirmation of what I have been saying in this blog from day one.
© 2010 Mark W. Pugsley, all rights reserved.
