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Here's a discovery that could make secular parents say hallelujah: Children who grow up in non-religious homes are more generous and altruistic than children from observant families. ...
A series of experiments involving 1,170 kids from a variety of religious backgrounds found that the non-believers were more likely to share stickers with their classmates and less likely to endorse harsh punishments for people who pushed or bumped into others.
The results "contradict the common-sense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind toward others," according to a study published this week in the journal Current Biology.
Worldwide, about 5.8 billion people consider themselves religious, and religion is a primary way for cultures to express their ideas about proper moral behavior — especially behavior that involves self-sacrifice for the sake of others.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Sunday November 08 2015, @10:32AM
What is the difference between a thief and a crook? Jesus seems to hate thieves but love crooks.
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday November 08 2015, @10:47PM
This cuts to the quick. I prefer The Message translation because of exactly this issue. I believe the term used in the popular New International Version and American Scholar's translation is “money-changer.” There a lot of bullshit and woo in the Bible, but I believe that if taken with other works, it can be a helpful guide to ethics and philosophy.
The point is that Jesus became angry after seeing money-changers in a temple that was supposed to be dedicated to his father, Abraham's god. Yet, if a criminal reforms his ways, then Jesus has all the sympathy in the world for that person who has seen the error of his ways.
So, to answer your question, as I understand the ancient document, the difference between a thief and a crook is little. However, the difference between a man who continues to profit off lies and a man who realizes the error of his ways is the difference between hell and heaven.
Does that help?
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Sunday November 08 2015, @11:07PM
I wasn't clear. Consider Mark 12:13–17 (MSG):
They sent some Pharisees and followers of Herod to bait him, hoping to catch him saying something incriminating. They came up and said, “Teacher, we know you have integrity, that you are indifferent to public opinion, don’t pander to your students, and teach the way of God accurately. Tell us: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
He knew it was a trick question, and said, “Why are you playing these games with me? Bring me a coin and let me look at it.” They handed him one.
“This engraving—who does it look like? And whose name is on it?”
“Caesar,” they said.
Jesus said, “Give Caesar what is his, and give God what is his.”
Their mouths hung open, speechless.
The issue of money-changers being in a temple for Abraham's god is that they were not rendering to God what was God's. Their presence created a lie, and they fully intended to keep on profiting by counterfeiting Caesar's currency for Abraham's god.
This is not too different from the current situation. We have people living with the just world axiom who mistake what mammon values (compound interest, H1Bs, TPP, TTIP, TISA, enslaving the working class, stealing from the true innovators with abuse of the patent system) over what the Light values. (I believe there may be such a thing as the Light of Creation, but my personal beliefs are too unsettled. Perhaps the Light of Creation cannot exist without the Dark of Creation. I suppose that digresses into paganism.)
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday November 09 2015, @02:43AM
(Full disclaimer: as an Amazon, I do not believe anything literally. I am hoping the the stories I've heard about the Jesus Buddha in the Good News [Gospel] are as true as the stories I've heard about the other Buddhas. The Gautama and Amida Buddhas have spoken. Next comes the Maitreya Buddha, who will most probably take female form, as far as she may project her presence in limited 3rd dimensional spacetime.)
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Monday November 09 2015, @03:01AM
Sorry to reply to myself yet again, but we live in interesting times. Pope Francis I is the last pope as the prophecy has it. As an Amazon, I must dispute the reliance on water dowsing. The patterns seem to be coming together, however. The Dalai Lama intends to discorporate at the end of his current incarnation.
The Maitreya Buddha won't come for another 10,000 years at least. (A short time in the dreams of the Brahman.)
What is going to happen? They want to backdoor encryption. There's TPP, TISA, and TTIP. I am deeply concerned. I have had many disturbing dreams myself lately, mostly about buying a new house and being unable to transfer my possessions into the new house.
Should I be concerned? Should I plan on discorporation before 2019?