

Roman Catholicism

Catholics aren't the only guilty ones

Catholics aren't the only guilty ones

Turns out Catholic guilt is nothing special. A new study finds that guilt is prevalent in all religions: Protestant, Muslim, Jew. Even atheists feel as guilty as Catholics.

Guilt is good, the researchers found. But shame is better.

“Guilt is a useful emotion, It pushes people to repair the harm they did,” says June P. Tangney, lead author of the study and a professor of psychology at George Mason University, in Fairfax, Va. “But feelings of shame about oneself seem to motivate people more to want to hide, escape, deny or a lot of times to blame other people.”

Tangney's study found there's no link between feeling guilty and religious affiliation....