Religious kids are harsher and less generous than atheist ones, study says

http://www.oregonlive.com/faith/2015/11/religious_kids_are_harsher_and.html

By Melissa Binder
Nov. 5, 2015

When it comes to teaching kids the Golden Rule, Sunday school might not be the best bet.

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.

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