You know how religion is pretty much the cause of all evil in today’s world. Well, a new study says that religious people are less likely to engage in low-level crime than non-religious people.

The Daily Mail reports:

A survey from Manchester University found a direct correlation between higher visits to religious places and lower crime figures, especially in relation to shoplifting, drug use and music piracy.

Researchers believe this is because religion not only teaches people about ‘moral and behavioural norms’, but also spending time with like-minded people makes it less likely they’ll get mixed up with the ‘wrong crowd’.

The guy who led the study said, “These results suggest a more positive picture of Britain’s religious life than the doom and gloom you might read about it in the newspapers.”

The only real surprising thing here is that they found enough religious people in Europe to make the study viable. Maybe they were Muslim.