Why religious belief should be declared as a competing interest

“If in doubt, declare a competing interest” is standard teaching in ethics. Hiding a competing interest hints at dishonesty, raising doubts about the integrity of what has been written or said. It thus seems elementary that you should declare a religious competing interest because faith and other non-financial competing interests often have a profound effect on people’s views.1 Yet people with deep religious beliefs and other non-financial competing interests often do not make such a declaration,1 perhaps believing it to be a private matter or because of the tendency to focus on financial conflicts of interest.

Religious conflicts of interest are important in …