This chapter analyses the data from the first wave of the World Values Survey, again from the perspective of the analysis of the observance of the Ten Commandments by citizens around the world presented in Chapters 1 and 2 . The focus this time is on the direct measurement of adherence to these commandments and the development of a parametric index of adherence, as presented in Chapter 3 of this book. In this chapter, we have drawn on the work of the Maltese Jesuit A. Abela, who published on this subject decades ago, and whose work obtains renewed relevance today. The number of countries in the first wave of the World Values Survey is limited to sixteen Western countries. The shocking results really speak for themselves when we read, for example, that 8% of the population of France at that time said that the Fifth Commandment, which prohibits the killing of a fellow human being, was irrelevant to them, and that 15% of them had a problem with the prohibition of theft and 33% of the French population had a problem with the prohibition of adultery. It is also striking that the United States differed from other Western countries in this respect. Our factor analytical model explains 65.7% of the total variance, and the two factors are clearly to be interpreted as the rejection of commandments 4–10 and the rejection of commandments 1–3, which refer to the Deity and the honour that humanity should show them. Interestingly, the factor loadings here actually reflect the ancient wisdom of the Jewish theological interpretation of the Ten Commandments, which was already very clearly stated in the Talmud, that commandments 4–10 ultimately apply to all humanity, regardless of religion. Malta, the United States, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Canada are at the top of the table and France, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Sweden at the bottom. The ten political parties with the greatest support for the Ten Commandments were at that time the Nationalists in Malta, the Christian Democrats in Italy, the Democrats in the United States, Fianna Fail in the Republic of Ireland, the Republicans in the United States, the Labour Party in Malta and Fianna Gail in the Republic of Ireland, followed by the Progressive Party in Iceland, the Independents in the United States and the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada, while the ten parties furthest from the Ten Commandments in the global West in the 1980s were the Communists in Spain, the Communists in France, the Greens in Germany, the Labour Party in Spain, the Social Democrats in Germany, the Conservatives in Denmark, the Labour Party in Britain, the neo-fascists in Italy and the Popular Alliance in Iceland, followed by the CS in Spain and the Partido Popular in Spain.

Direct Measurements of Observing the “Ten Commandments” in the World Values Survey

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发表日期：

2025年

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Arno Tausch

摘要

This chapter analyses the data from the first wave of the World Values Survey, again from the perspective of the analysis of the observance of the Ten Commandments by citizens around the world presented in Chapters 1 and 2 . The focus this time is on the direct measurement of adherence to these commandments and the development of a parametric index of adherence, as presented in Chapter 3 of this book. In this chapter, we have drawn on the work of the Maltese Jesuit A. Abela, who published on this subject decades ago, and whose work obtains renewed relevance today. The number of countries in the first wave of the World Values Survey is limited to sixteen Western countries. The shocking results really speak for themselves when we read, for example, that 8% of the population of France at that time said that the Fifth Commandment, which prohibits the killing of a fellow human being, was irrelevant to them, and that 15% of them had a problem with the prohibition of theft and 33% of the French population had a problem with the prohibition of adultery. It is also striking that the United States differed from other Western countries in this respect. Our factor analytical model explains 65.7% of the total variance, and the two factors are clearly to be interpreted as the rejection of commandments 4–10 and the rejection of commandments 1–3, which refer to the Deity and the honour that humanity should show them. Interestingly, the factor loadings here actually reflect the ancient wisdom of the Jewish theological interpretation of the Ten Commandments, which was already very clearly stated in the Talmud, that commandments 4–10 ultimately apply to all humanity, regardless of religion. Malta, the United States, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Canada are at the top of the table and France, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Sweden at the bottom. The ten political parties with the greatest support for the Ten Commandments were at that time the Nationalists in Malta, the Christian Democrats in Italy, the Democrats in the United States, Fianna Fail in the Republic of Ireland, the Republicans in the United States, the Labour Party in Malta and Fianna Gail in the Republic of Ireland, followed by the Progressive Party in Iceland, the Independents in the United States and the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada, while the ten parties furthest from the Ten Commandments in the global West in the 1980s were the Communists in Spain, the Communists in France, the Greens in Germany, the Labour Party in Spain, the Social Democrats in Germany, the Conservatives in Denmark, the Labour Party in Britain, the neo-fascists in Italy and the Popular Alliance in Iceland, followed by the CS in Spain and the Partido Popular in Spain.