Friday, November 06, 2015

New study finds that non-religious kids are more generous than children raised in religious homes. Gee, no kidding.

Source
Courtesy of The Oregonian:

A new study in the journal Current Biology found children in religious households are significantly less generous than their non-religious peers. 

At the same time, religious parents were more likely than non-religious ones to consider their children empathetic and sensitive to the plight of others. 

It's a common assumption in the United States that faith goes hand-in-hand with goodness. The Pew Research Center reported last year that 53 percent of Americans think it's necessary to believe in God to be moral. 

Americans overwhelmingly elect Christian representatives, and they distrust atheists. 

This study challenges those attitudes. It was the children in non-religious homes most likely to be generous toward a stranger. The longer a child had lived in a religious home, the stingier he was compared to his secular peers. 

Here is another obvious fact that people cannot accept without a study to back it up. And let's face it religious people are not going to accept it even WITH a study to back it up.

Clearly if you are raised to expect rewards for good behavior (Heaven) and dire consequences for bad behavior (Hell), and taught that you are constantly under surveillance (God) to monitor those behaviors, then you are going to have a severely underdeveloped morality.

Generosity and goodness cannot be forced on children through threats or rewards. They learn that by observing the example of those around them.

And those who are constantly struggling with doing the right thing, and who openly admit that their morality comes from their fear of a supreme being, set a very poor example indeed.

The non-religious among us give and take care of each other because it is the right thing to do, not to earn passage into eternal life.

To do it with the expectation of reward, cheapens what it means to be human.

36 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:06 AM

    Today’s young Americans are less religious—and a lot more likely to stay that way

    In 2007, 92% of US adults believed in God. By 2014, that figure was 89%: a modest dip, none too noteworthy or dramatic.

    But upon closer inspection, America’s religious ties are actually fraying much more than this one data point would indicate. An exhaustive new religion report from the Pew Research Center yesterday (Nov. 3) shows that, despite the steadiness of the percentage of Americans who believe in God, religious interest is declining quite steeply by a number of other measures.

    Pew’s new report—which surveyed 35,071 people in 2014, and encompasses the second half of findings released in May—can be juxtaposed with the group’s similarly sized 2007 study on the same topic. Americans who are “absolutely certain” in God’s existence have decreased by eight percentage points in the intervening time. Religiously unaffiliated people now make up 23% of the adult population, compared to 16%; even among the pious, regular service attendance is faltering.

    When sorted by generation, the contrasts get even starker. Younger Americans, by some measures, are almost twice as likely to be uninterested in religion as their parents and grandparents. For instance:

    http://qz.com/540395/todays-young-americans-are-less-religious-and-a-lot-more-likely-to-stay-that-way/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:06 AM

    I don't know if children raised in non-religious homes are more generous than children raised in religious homes.

    So is Sarah Palin's children who were raised in a non-religious home more generous?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So is[sic] Sarah Palin's children who were raised in a non-religious home more generous?

      I expect that the religious/non-religious box would have been filled in by the person(s) being surveyed, rather than being assessed by the survey team. Can you really believe that, if surveyed, the Palin family would report their home as being "non-religious"? Not likely.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:54 AM

      Is they? Well, from observation, they mistreat animals, hit their elders, should profanities from a young age and are encouraged to do so, have never seen anyone doing something for another without asking, "What's in it for us?" and have not been taught to save for anything...instant gratification is the rule in the homes.
      My grandkids know about God but are not churched. They get an allowance, of which half is saved, a quarter can be spent, and another fourth is to give away. Right now their giveaway money is going to a woman's shelter to buy books for the kids.
      Let's see, Sarah, what have you or your klan done for anyone else lately? meanwhile, a 90 year old with brain cancer is still building for Habitat...while the man trashing him runs around with SS protection and a puffed out chest telling people how awesome he is.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous1:30 PM

      Ted [sic], shouldn't [sic] you [sic] be [sic] yelling [sic] at [sic] some [sic] kids [sic] to [sic] get [sic] off [sic] your [sic] lawn [sic]?

      Delete
  3. Anonymous9:09 AM

    OT

    Over at C4P, happymullah has a hardon for Todd...

    "Sarah's new facebook post has Todd with an assault rifle. Bad a** tough guy!!
    This is one reason why sissified liberal males hate her because she loves the strong, manly type and wouldn't have given them a second look and that reminds them of their high school days when the prettiest girl in class never looked at them and hung out with athletic hunks.
    Remember Letterman, whose obsession with Sarah? He went after her daughters in order to catch her attention.
    .
    Todd is a he-man. Bill Clinton, lol.
    Btw "first dude" should be copyrighted by Sarah."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:57 AM

      3...2...1 ... Ahhh, here they are - the Palin-obsessed troll(s). And only the 2nd and 3rd comments in. You're getting better, Anonymous9:06 AM and Anonymous9:09 AM. Congratulations. Pretty soon every post, no matter the topic, will begin with two or three comments related to the Palins.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:00 AM

      Can you say DISASTER?

      http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2015/11/bernie-sanders-introduces-bill-to-end.html?showComment=1446824377832#c5370852881336573043

      Delete
    3. Anonymous11:06 AM

      Dealing with those that believe the pyramids are for grain storage is tough!

      http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2015/11/so-ben-carson-has-interesting-theory.html?showComment=1446750702265#c8501228500812077120

      DON'T FORGET

      November is National Adoption Month.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous11:23 AM

      @9:57am, you are so right! I don't know why Mr Blog doesn't just have a standing thread to move all of the Palin comments to. This used to be a decent place but the Palin obsessed people have to ruin it for everyone.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous12:11 PM

      Well we already know that Toad has a pencil dick, so OF COURSE he has to compensate with a big ol' gun since he can't hack it in the macho department any other way than killing helpless animals and posing with his penis extender, the bigger, the better.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous12:23 PM

      Don't let the door hit you in the butt, 1123a

      Delete
    7. Anonymous2:16 PM

      Anonymous12:23 PM

      Take your own suggestion

      Delete
  4. Anonymous9:13 AM

    This is one of those strange Americanisms. Like "citty [sic] upon a hill", it is actually a Puritan and Calvinist ideal. If you are "saved", then it is obvious because God blesses you with material wealth. The way the American Revolution and such is taught in schools is totally f*cked.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Leland9:29 AM

    OT, but critical

    POTUS has rejected the XL pipeline!

    http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/06/politics/keystone-xl-pipeline-decision-rejection-kerry/

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous9:43 AM

    The Religiously Unaffiliated are Now the Largest Single Group Among Democrats

    Pew has announced that the religiously unaffiliated (or “nones”) are “now the largest single religious group among Democrats.”

    According to a Pew Research Center study:

    Fewer than two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults now identify with any branch of Christianity, down 11 percentage points since 2007. Meanwhile, nearly three-in-ten Democrats say they have no religion, up 9 points in recent years. Religious “nones” now constitute the single largest religious category in the Democratic coalition. As recently as 2007, mainline Protestants, evangelical Protestants and Catholics were each about as numerous as – or more numerous than – the religiously unaffiliated among Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults.

    http://www.politicususa.com/2015/11/05/religiously-unaffiliated-largest-single-group-democrats.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous9:48 AM

    Food for thought

    https://www.facebook.com/TheOther98/photos/a.115969958413991.17486.114517875225866/1174640309213612/?type=3

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous9:52 AM

    Ben Carson may be a victim of religious upbringing and who knows what!

    The more he talks, the more psychopath he appears. Not functional psycho, more like a Palin or a Ted Bundy type.

    Ben Carson’s Campaign Admits He Lied About West Point Scholarship
    http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/11/ben_carson_s_campaign_admits_he_lied_about_west_point_scholarship.html

    Yahoo
    https://www.yahoo.com/politics/ben-carsons-campaign-admits-he-lied-about-west-181600104.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:57 AM

      Meet Armstrong Williams — the shady grifter who’s running Ben Carson’s bizarro campaign

      With each outrageous pronouncement followed by an even more confusing explanation, questions are being asked whether newly-minted GOP presidential front runner Ben Carson is sincerely running for president or using the primary process to market himself and his books — thereby putting money in his pocket.

      In a GOP campaign season where wild and unsupported pronouncements by political outsiders have resulted in jumps in the polls over more measured comments by career politicians, Carson’s almost daily headline-grabbing comments seemed timed to assist his recently completed book tour to promote his latest offering, “A More Perfect Union.”

      To explain the quixotic decision to stay out of the early primary states and cash-in on his celebrity by selling books instead, one need only look to Carson’s business manager and unofficial campaign manager, political commentator Armstrong Williams.

      http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/meet-armstrong-williams-the-shady-grifter-whos-running-ben-carsons-bizarro-campaign/

      Ben Carson is popular because he helps racist whites continue to hide from their racism

      ...By continuing to represent the GOP as a black man who is patently unqualified, his candidacy does more to perpetuate racism than undo it. His political incompetence is on public display for all to see.

      It’s very much akin to a show in which black performers were complicit in their own degradation. And since blacks are almost never afforded the opportunity to be seen as individuals, the humiliation is often extended to blacks as a group.

      http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/ben-carson-is-popular-because-he-helps-racist-whites-continue-to-hide-from-their-racism/

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:58 AM

      Twitter invents hilarious #BenCarsonWikipedia facts to mock candidate’s battle with reality

      http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/twitter-invents-hilarious-bencarsonwikipedia-facts-to-mock-candidates-struggle-with-reality/

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:10 PM

      Even if being president were brain surgery — you wouldn’t want Ben Carson doing it

      http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/even-if-being-president-were-brain-surgery-you-wouldnt-want-ben-carson-doing-it/

      Delete
  9. Anonymous10:20 AM

    And when they grow up they lie their asses off...and then piss and moan and whine and throw tantrums when they get busted for it. And then attack the person with the facts that refute their lies.

    Ben Carson Cracks Up And Whines About Obama When Called Out On His Violent Past Lies

    http://www.politicususa.com/2015/11/06/ben-carson-pulls-republican-blames-media-whines-obama-avoid-reality.html

    Ben Carson Gets Angry and Combative in Interview With CNN’s New Day

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ben-carson-gets-angry-and-combative-in-interview-with-cnns-new-day/

    Ben Carson Bristles At The Media Vetting His Stories Of Youth Violence: 'A Bunch Of Lies'

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-youth-violence-cnn-investigation_563cc7c5e4b0411d3070aacb

    Ben Carson admits fabricating West Point scholarship

    http://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/ben-carson-west-point-215598

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous10:38 AM

      That's easy. A really bad one.

      Ben Carson has weird ideas and makes stuff up. What kind of president would he be?

      Ben Carson is having a very bad news day today. Politico is reporting that Carson has now admitted that a story he told in his autobiography “Gifted Hands” and again in his book “You Have a Brain” was false in one major detail. He wrote that as an excellent ROTC student in high school he met General William Westmoreland, and later, presumably because he had so impressed Westmoreland, “I was offered a full scholarship to West Point.”

      After being confronted with the fact that no record exists of him applying to West Point, Carson’s campaign admitted that he made up that part of the story.

      https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/11/06/ben-carson-has-weird-ideas-and-makes-stuff-up-what-kind-of-president-would-he-be

      Delete
  10. Anonymous10:26 AM

    No major demographic group in America is more hated, distrusted, and reviled than athiests.

    In spite of the 1st amendment, and article 6, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, many Christians feel that athiests shouldn't even be able to vote or hold political office.

    There is no better example of Christian lunacy than the case before the Texas supreme court.

    http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2014/08/texas-court-rules-that-rapture-is-no.html
    The parents didn't feel a need to educate their kids AT ALL, because the rapture is coming, and the bible and jesus are all that counts.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous10:47 AM

    So how much of her income has Bristol Palin donated to charity?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:27 PM

      The thing about "generosity" on the part of those who profess to be religious is, overwhelmingly their generosity goes no further than their own church. In effect they reserve their "charitable giving" for support of their own social club, and the trappings of the church organization that maintains it. Apart from a minority of real Christians like Jimmy Carter, being religious in America is a looking-out-for-number-one mentality, pure and simple.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2:17 PM

      How is that in anyway related to this post?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous3:33 AM

      Gee! I don't know. Maybe because it's talking about religion and generosity?

      Delete
  12. "--the people, that is, who reject the idea of using man to learn about man on the grounds that human life is sacred--are by and large the very people who insist upon a present status quo which has destroyed millions of us in a generation of wars and which, hour by hour, increasingly risks the lives of every single human being. So it is not human life at all which they hold sacred but merely their own creed."

    "An Essay On Morals" p21.

    Things haven't changed much since 1947...

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous11:33 AM

    Thanks for sharing the fascinating study. And bigger thanks for your exceptional commentary on morality!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous1:26 PM

    I'm non-religious, but these types of 'studies' are always a joke, they always result in the answer they want to push.... and people/bloggers like gryph with chips on their shoulders, are always more than willing to pass it off as "bible".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:50 PM

      Go away, Sarah.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous2:07 PM

      Yeah sure thing 1:50................... burrrp.

      Delete
  15. Anonymous3:07 PM

    We're non religious/none of the above and we taught our kids it's not the good they do when others know, it's those simple anonymous acts of kindness that speak more to one's character than rewards and punishments in any religious books. We're not animals to be trained, we're much more than that and capable of better.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous3:43 PM

    Good Answer:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/this-kid-is-going-places_563cca4ae4b0307f2cad1ab0

    ReplyDelete

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