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Religious Kids Meaner than Non-Religious, Study Finds


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2015 Nov 6, 9:32am   5,784 views  15 comments

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Children from religious families are less kind and more punitive than those from non-religious households, according to a new study.

Academics from seven universities across the world studied Christian, Muslim and non-religious children to test the relationship between religion and morality.

They found that religious belief is a negative influence on children’s altruism.

“Overall, our findings ... contradict the commonsense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind towards others,” said the authors of “The Negative Association Between Religiousness and Children’s Altruism Across The World”, published this week in Current Biology.

“More generally, they call into question whether religion is vital for moral development, supporting the idea that secularisation of moral discourse will not reduce human kindness – in fact, it will do just the opposite.”

Almost 1,200 children, aged between five and 12, in the US, Canada, China, Jordan, Turkey and South Africa, participated in the study. Almost 24% were Christian, 43% Muslim, and 27.6% non-religious. The numbers of Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, agnostic and other children were too small to be statistically valid.

They were asked to choose stickers and then told there were not enough to go round for all children in their school, to see if they would share. They were also shown film of children pushing and bumping one another to gauge their responses.

The findings “robustly demonstrate that children from households identifying as either of the two major world religions (Christianity and Islam) were less altruistic than children from non-religious households”.

Older children, usually those with a longer exposure to religion, “exhibit[ed] the greatest negative relations”.

The study also found that “religiosity affects children’s punitive tendencies”. Children from religious households “frequently appear to be more judgmental of others’ actions”, it said.

Muslim children judged “interpersonal harm as more mean” than children from Christian families, with non-religious children the least judgmental. Muslim children demanded harsher punishment than those from Christian or non-religious homes.

At the same time, the report said that religious parents were more likely than others to consider their children to be “more empathetic and more sensitive to the plight of others”.

The report pointed out that 5.8 billion humans, representing 84% of the worldwide population, identify as religious. “While it is generally accepted that religion contours people’s moral judgments and pro-social behaviour, the relation between religion and morality is a contentious one,” it says.

The report was “a welcome antidote to the presumption that religion is a prerequisite of morality”, said Keith Porteus Wood of the UK National Secular Society.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/06/religious-children-less-altruistic-secular-kids-study

Comments 1 - 15 of 15        Search these comments

1   Strategist   2015 Nov 6, 9:41am  

Nice. Thanks for posting.

2   Tenpoundbass   2015 Nov 6, 10:15am  

When I moved to South Carolina when I was 13.
The local preacher's family was long list of gererational bad asses.
He had like 5 sons and everyone of them were considered bad asses.
The Preacher was even a legendary bad ass before he became a preacher.

My brother rubbed one of the clan wrong that was in his class with him on the first few days of school. .

The whole family came over to the house for this guy to engage my brother.

The thing is my brother wasn't a fighter or a bad ass, but he had been lifting weights since he was 10. He was at this time about 16, and I don't think hes' ever been as physically fit as he was on this September evening. The first punch my brother threw knocked every front tooth out of that guys mouth, and that was the end of that. Before his family swooped him up and left as quickly as they came. Apperentlly this guy's family reputation didn't psyche my brother out, we didn't know the full story about their reputation. Until it was local town gossip how that damn Florida Yankee kid finally bested one of the Preacher's Boys.

3   Dan8267   2015 Nov 6, 10:33am  

thunderlips11 says

Religious Kids Meaner than Non-Religious, Study Finds

And this is shocking, how?

Religion has always hindered morality. It's not a moral virtue to avoid harming people just because you're afraid of being caught and punished by some deity.

4   tatupu70   2015 Nov 6, 10:45am  

Dan8267 says

Religion has always hindered morality. It's not a moral virtue to avoid harming people just because you're afraid of being caught and punished by some deity.

I remember at one of my first jobs there were some bible thumpers trying to "save" me. Leaving pamphlets on my desk, pressuring me to go to their church, etc. Anyways, one time I was behind one of them leaving the parking lot and I noticed a bumper sticker on her car--"Being good won't help, belief in God will". That always struck me. I couldn't believe that that was the ideal she strived for. Needless to say, I wasn't saved.

5   saroya   2015 Nov 6, 11:37am  

thunderlips11 says

children demanded harsher punishment than those from Christian or non-religious homes.

At the same time, the report said that religious parents were more likely than others to consider their children to be “more empathetic and more sensitive to the plight of others”.

The report pointed out that 5.8 billion humans, representing 84% of the worldwide population, identify as religious. “While it is generally accepted that religion contours people’s moral judgments and pro-social behaviour, the relation between religion and morality is a contentious one,” it says.

The report was “a welcome antidote to the presumption that religion is a prerequisite of morality”, said Keith Porteus Wood of the UK National Secular Society.

Well I finally understand why Huckabee's son was convicted of torturing a dog for hours before he eventually killed it. Maybe it was because the dog wouldn't admit to finding Jeebus.

6   Heraclitusstudent   2015 Nov 6, 11:42am  

"Respect for truth comes close to being the basis for all morality."
F. Herbert

7   curious2   2015 Nov 6, 12:07pm  

saroya says

Huckabee's son

I had never heard that story before. I read further, and apparently Hucksterbee's 17yo son was fired from Boy Scout Camp for participating in the killing of a dog. I didn't see any indication of being convicted though, nor any punishment other than getting fired. Reportedly, Governor Hucksterbee intervened personally to thwart the police investigation:

"John Bailey, then the director of Arkansas’s state police, tells NEWSWEEK that Governor Huckabee’s chief of staff and personal lawyer both leaned on him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor’s request. Bailey, a career officer who had been appointed chief by Huckabee’s Democratic predecessor, said he viewed the lawyer’s intervention as improper and terminated the conversation. Seven months later, he was called into Huckabee’s office and fired. “I’ve lost confidence in your ability to do your job,” Bailey says Huckabee told him. One reason Huckabee cited was “I couldn’t get you to help me with my son when I had that problem,” according to Bailey. “Without question, [Huckabee] was making a conscious attempt to keep the state police from investigating his son,” says I. C. Smith, the former FBI chief in Little Rock, who worked closely with Bailey and called him a “courageous” and “very solid” professional."

The story got additional attention years later, when at age 26 Junior Hucksterbee got arrested for bringing a loaded Glock to an airport.

The story of Governor Hucksterbee's son killing a dog raises an eery parallel to Combat Hairstylist Mitt Romnesia attacking a gay kid for having a non-conforming haircut. HuffPo drew another parallel, to Romnesia tying a dog to the roof of the family station wagon.

8   Dan8267   2015 Nov 6, 12:17pm  

Heraclitusstudent says

"Respect for truth comes close to being the basis for all morality."

F. Herbert

No. Not at all. One can be completely honest and completely evil.

The basis of morality are the dual pillars of cooperation and receptivity.

9   Dan8267   2015 Nov 6, 2:48pm  

I have told far fewer lies than you have molested children, CIC.

10   NDrLoR   2015 Nov 6, 3:19pm  

thunderlips11 says

Academics from seven universities across the world

thunderlips11 says

said Keith Porteus Wood of the UK National Secular Society.

No biases here, I'm sure.

11   Strategist   2015 Nov 6, 3:25pm  

P N Dr Lo R says

thunderlips11 says

said Keith Porteus Wood of the UK National Secular Society.

No biases here, I'm sure.

It probably is biased. I have always found the church most biased.

12   New Renter   2015 Nov 9, 5:13pm  

Dan8267 says

I have told far fewer lies than you have molested children, CIC.

Hmmm, I hadn't realized CIC was a man of the cloth.

13   NuttBoxer   2015 Nov 10, 1:28pm  

I think the article points out that a name/association is meaningless without actions. The failure of many to follow through on the beliefs they profess is the greatest detriment to their religion's credibility.

tatupu70 says

I was behind one of them leaving the parking lot and I noticed a bumper sticker on her car--"Being good won't help, belief in God will".

The point of this sticker is found in the heart of the protestant reformation led by Martin Luther and others. Good works cannot save a man, only God can. The focus should be on restoring the personal relationship with God that was broken in the Garden of Eden. But as Paul says, "Since I am now under grace, should I sin more that grace may abound? May it never be!" (my paraphrase). As we are restored to God we are to engage in the life He has planned for us, and that includes love, and empathy as key components. In fact, I've never known anyone to become a believer without having first encountered these elements in a relationship with another Christian.

14   Tenpoundbass   2015 Nov 11, 9:03am  

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/11/11/physicist-slams-pseudoscience-showing-atheist-kids-altruistic-believers/

Trinko compared the study to other discredited research where science has been used as a propaganda machine for liberal causes, such as the nuclear winter theory that was proposed during the Reagan years and the more recent climate change fiasco, which Trinko called snake oil. Methodologically, Trinko asks why a group of neuroscientists were conducting a sociological study, which falls completely outside their realm of expertise. Thats like a structural engineer writing a biology paper, Trinko noted.

15   marcus   2015 Nov 11, 10:49am  

thunderlips11 says

Religious Kids Meaner than Non-Religious, Study Finds

The devil made me do it.

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