When kids from religious families aren't so noble

The latest “bad news” for religion sounds worse than previous reports. A new study has found that, contrary to conventional wisdom, children brought up in “non-religious homes” are more generous and altruistic than those who receive a religious upbringing. The finding is not that shocking, but it’s alarming nonetheless. When kids reared in religious families are found to be less likely to share and more likely to be judgmental, if not punitive, it suggests the world could face a crisis of morality sooner rather than later.

“The Negative Association between Religiousness and Children’s Altruism Across the World” study of 1,170 children found that children from secular homes were more likely to share with their classmates and less likely to endorse harsh punishment for those who pushed or bumped into others. The respondents were aged between five and 12. They were located in the United States, Canada, Turkey, Jordan, South Africa and China. About 24 per cent were Christians, 43 per cent Muslims, with Jews, Buddhists and Hindus making up smaller targeted groups. Children self-identified as “non-religious” made up 28 per cent of the youngsters surveyed.

The results “contradict the common sense and popular assumption that children from religious households are more altruistic and kind toward others”, said the study, published just over a week ago by researchers led by a University of Chicago neuroscientist. It was found that secular students were 23 to 28 per cent more likely than religious ones to offer to share. Regardless of the particular faith with which a child identified, the more religious the family, the less generous the child.

The researchers measured generosity by making children decide how many stickers they were willing to give classmates. Some children were given stickers and told to keep ones they liked the most as part of a game. Then they were told that not all the children would be given stickers due to time constraints. The sharing subsequently happened.

The researchers measured the “judgmental” tendency by describing scenarios involving bumping, pushing or other types of “interpersonal harm” and asked the kids to rate the meanness of the offenders. Muslim children judged the offenders most harshly, followed by the Christians and the secular. The sample of Jewish children was small, and the study did not compare Jewish children to those of other faiths.

The findings “call into question whether religion is vital for moral development, supporting the idea that the secularisation of moral discourse will not reduce human kindness – in fact, it will do just the opposite”, according to the study, which received considerable media attention and went viral on the Internet.

Some may question the researchers’ motives, and wonder if the results would have been different had the research been done by, say, a religious network. However, this is not the first study that challenges the long-perceived association between moral values and religion. A few recent studies have demonstrated that religion has less of an influence on “good morals”. In other words, more and more people are believing that they can be good, decent human beings without having a religious faith.

John Lennon would have nodded at the latest findings. But then again, religions are always misinterpreted so that killings, bloodshed and prejudices cannot necessarily be blamed on the genuine teachings of each faith. This doesn’t mean, though, that religious leaders should look at the findings and all the bad things associated with their faiths and stand still and blame it all on misinterpretation. Children are the ones who will pass the faiths on, and they must be raised to pass them on properly, for everybody’s sake.