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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 bziman on Sunday November 08 2015, @07:32PM
As it turns out, I more or less did. I wrote a paper in college whose thesis was that modern morals were derived from religious teachings, and ended up convincing myself of the opposite. (I won't go into all the specific ways that my personal belief system seems to differ from the rest of society. I'll mention sexual and linguistic taboos as a single example.)
I truly believe that the "social compact" that governs human morals largely predates religion. I don't commit murder, not because I'm afraid of punishment, but rather because I believe it is in my best interest that we all mutually agree not to kill each other. I don't thieve for the same reason. These things are "wrong" because I don't want them done to me, and the best way to ensure that is to mutually agree with everyone else not to do it.
There are many, many "rules" in the Bible, most of which are ignored by even the most backwards of religious zealots. The laws against gay sex in Leviticus are in the same chapters that describe the sorts of burnt offerings you're supposed to make, and the size of the tent in which your alter stands, and the laundry list of foods that can't be eaten or eaten together. They describe a strict patriarchy, and how you should marry your sister-in-law if your brother dies. The "rules" that we, as a society, hang on to didn't come from the religion... they were the things that actually make sense for civilization to exist... that's why we still hold to them, even as religion declines.