Religion and Motivation

When I used to teach, I would notice a few students who went to church. In particular, I'd notice that there seemed to be a larger than normal percentage of Catholics that did well academically. It made me curious why.

I don't have definitive answers as I don't spend a great deal of time researching this idea, but one big idea in Catholicism is confession. I don't know how often one must confess, but the idea, as I understand it, is to go the priest (I never get the official titles of religious figures correct, so replace it with the appropriate one as needed) and confess sins.

Ah, sins. Sins are important to Christians, but only Catholics (so far as I know) are into confessions. So if you're a good kid, a good Catholic kid, then you're always feeling guilty. Should I do this? Should I do that? You look at other kids, possibly even other Catholic kids, who are, in your estimation, sinning, and you have to craft some worldview that makes you wary when you commit sins, and forces a sense of guilt, and presumably condemns those that aren't nearly as observant as you.

I have a friend who always seems to apologize for things, mostly things he didn't do. He was raised Catholic, and so I have to feel that this sense of guilt and sin still influences his personality, even now.

On the flip side, there are those who are raised in such an environment, and basically reject it, finding all this sin and stuff rather silly, but presumably after a phase of where they thought it was sensible.

The other religion that seems to emphasize guilt, but mostly through culture, is Judaism. In this case, it's the Jewish mother, who says she slaves at the stove to cook you your dinner, while you live a life of relative ease. Don't you feel bad for your poor old mother, and so forth.

Does guilt work as motivation? I mean, it would be nice if people accomplished things because they were inspired, possibly even divinely inspired to do so, but is guilt of eternal fire enough to motivate good kids to accomplish what they need to?

Now, I don't want to say that religion is the only source of motivation to get things done. Certainly, there are people who have accomplished a lot despite a lack of religion. Yet, I've also met people who have accomplished a great deal, who themselves aren't particularly religious, but whose parents are, and who, for a period of time, were also religious, before they rejected it.

Would they have been as successful had they not gone through that? Had they not been raised religious, and then rejected it?

Having not been raised religious, it makes me wonder how religion has affected people, in terms of personal accomplishments.

I know. It seems weird to combine two things like that. Religion is, one presumes, supposed to enlighten you, in some fashion. Personal (academic) accomplishments seem, for the most part, a secular pursuit. But that was a thought I had sometime ago, and only now have had a chance to write about it.