Is it ethical to scientifically investigate religious belief?

[Tiassa]

The mind may create-but God will be there saying-"See, isn't what you can make wonderful!" Or..."I'm glad you finally got here-I knew you would eventually."

Just ... hold that thought for a moment.

"I Believe in You" (Twisted Sister)

Why does no one seem to understand
That it's more than love I need?
It's so hard to keep your faith alive
When nobody else believes.
Oh, I need someone there for me,
Need someone who can see,
Need someone to show me,
Oh, that they are there to help me fight,
If I fall, to set me right,
Someone there to hold the light!
Won't someone say,

I believe in you?
I believe in you!
I believe in you!
I believe in you!

It's so hard to do it all yourself,
Fighting for your dreams alone.
When the toy's upon the highest shelf,
A child's tears soon become stone.
Oh why does no one lend a hand?
Why does no one understand
Why i need to make a stand?
Oh, it's so hard to carry on
When all your hope is gone,
All your dreams have come undone.
I need to hear,

I believe in you!
I believe in you!
I believe in you!
I believe in you!

Why won't someone say these words?
Are they really so absurd?
Must they always go unheard?
Oh, if someone needed the light,
I'd be there to help them fight,
If they fell, I'd set them right.
And then I'd say,

I believe in you!
I believe in you!
I believe in you!
I believe in you!
I believe in you!
Won't someone say I believe in you?
I need to hear I believe in you!
I believe ... in ... you!​

You realize, DJA, that you've described the essential motivation for inventing gods? At some point, the empirical becomes insufficient. We invent abstractions in order to justify ourselves through the heartbreak of the recognizing the absurd limits of human understanding.

 

[Grantywanty]

Couldn't a case be made that belief in other minds is an example of this Tiassa?
Or that the self continues through time? (that the remembered childhood self is the same, for example)
Scientists certainly took your position in relation to animals as experiencers: having feelings, intentions, emotions and so on. They assumed that people who thought animals believed these things were projecting. They thought ' the empirical was insufficient' to support these ideas that should be dignified with the name theories.
This shifted in the last 30 years and now it is OK to believe these things.
Perhaps other beings not currently recognized by science will later also be recognized. Science's bias for assuming that not-alive and not-intelligent are primary may be a faulty axiom.
The denail of certain kinds of direct experiencing - as in the case of animals - may also be misleading and wrong.

 

[greenberg]

For one thing, they are pervasive in society to the point that they have profound effects on policy and societal behaviors and norms. For another, there may be redeeming qualities that exist in some religions that are worth saving, preserving, duplicating or enhancing.
...
Another reason to study religion and religious belief is because of the deleterious effect that many religions have on their societies. While there is admittedly much good that religions can provide, there is also much bad.

...
To summarize, it would be unethical for science to not study religion and religious belief.

Agreed. But in that case, it is not so much religious belief as stated by the religions that is being investigated; instead, there needs to be a scientific formulation of the phenomenon - which, however, the religion(ists) in question might not agree with.

For example, I doubt that many Christians would agree that some of their fundamental articles of faith be formulated as "psychological and philosophical double binds", even though from a psychological and philosophical perspective this is what they are.

There's an unwritten taboo on examining religion, particularly Christianity, and questioning its origins, motivations, evolution, development, social effects, social appeal, etc. But, like it or not, these are all valid questions and the scientific study of religion is a viable and active field of academia.

I've noticed this and it is precisely this that motivated me to post this thread. Myself being raised in a Christian, I struggle to overcome the negative psychological and philosophical effects. However, in my search I've found a distinct lack of official research on this.