The association between religious education and moral values has been put into question with the latest study carried out by the department of psychology at the University of Chicago (USA) and published in the journal Current Biology . According to the study’s findings, children raised in families with religious beliefs are less generous and also less altruistic than those raised in agnostic or non-believing environments .
“Religiosity is usually thought to be linked to self-control and morality . This belief is so deeply ingrained in society that, in some environments, people who are not religious are considered morally suspicious, ”Jean Decety, study leader, told Sinc.
Society has the firm belief that being fairer and more empathetic go hand in hand with religiosity and therefore “religion influences the moral judgments of society and its behavior towards others, and it is precisely this relationship between morality and religion. the most controversial of all, although it is not always positive ”, explains Decety.
For the study, the researchers recruited a sample of 1,170 children between the ages of five and twelve from Canada, China, Jordan, Turkey, the United States, and South Africa ; the little ones had been raised in Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, nonreligious, and agnostic backgrounds. The researchers provided a series of stickers for them to share with other children. Those more religious were less inclined to share; however, the most generous were those who came from atheistic or agnostic families.
Is religion that important to the development of morality? For Decety, secular teaching would contribute, in light of the results, much stronger ethical values than religious ones since, “secularized societies are more peaceful and generally more ‘healthy’ than those of those countries that are anchored in religious values” .
Countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand or Belgium, characterized by low faith in religion, have, in fact, the lowest crime rates in the world and a high level of social welfare.
