Children from non-religious homes are more generous

[Alan H]

Children from non-religious homes are more generous than their peers, study suggests

It is certainly true that humans don’t need religion to be moral. But whether religion generally reduces or impedes kindness is less obvious, as the link between religion and morality is a notoriously difficult one to untangle. Although many researchers have tried to provide answers on empirical grounds, these answers often seem to fall predictably along partisan lines.

A new study of more than 1,100 children in six different countries has found that children growing up in non-religious households are better at sharing than those from religious homes. The researchers behind the study, published in Current Biology, conclude that teaching children about morality in some sort of secular setting will therefore increase human kindness.