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Most people in the world believe that religion leads to conflict, but a new study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers explains that religion can lead to "interfaith cooperation", according to HNGN.

When the researchers probed the beliefs of Palestinian youths from their own as well as Allah's perspectives, they found that Muslim-Palestinians believed that Allah wanted them to value the lives of Palestinians as well as the Israelis "with equality".

"Beliefs about God seem to encourage an application of universal moral rules to believers and non-believers alike, even in a conflict zone. Thus, it does not seem to be beliefs about God that lead to outgroup aggression," said Nichole Argo, a member of the research team.

Hence, the conclusion is that religion can solve prejudices against other religion and promote peace.

"Our findings are important because one precursor to violence is when people believe that the lives of members of their group are more important than the lives of members of another group," Jeremy Ginges, who participated in the research, said in a press release. "Here, we show that religious belief - even amidst a conflict centered on religious differences - can lead people to apply universal moral principles similarly to believers and non-believers alike."

In an experiment, 555 Palestinian youths between the ages of 12 and 18 were exposed to the "trolley dilemma." It involved a Palestinian man killing himself so that he could save five Jewish-Israeli or Muslim-Palestinian children. Although the Muslim-Palestinian subjects opted for the lives of their own group, they agreed that Allah wanted them to value all groups equally. They also found that those who thought of situations from Allah's point of view showed a decline in prejudice toward their own groups by about 30 percent.

"There may be other aspects of religion that lead to outgroup aggression," Argo added. "For instance, another work done in conflict zones has identified participation in collective religious rituals and frequent attendance at a place of worship to be associated with support for violence. This study, however, adds to a growing literature on how religious belief can increase cooperation with people from other faiths."

The findings were published in the Nov. 25 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.