Are Atheists Their Brother's Keepers?
A study supposedly shows that atheists are more motivated by compassion than are religious people. Atheists have used this in various ways to show that atheist can be moral, that religion doesn't produce compassion and so on. The study is "My Brother's Keeper: Compassion Predicts Generosity More Among Less Religious Individuals." [1] First published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, 00 (0) April (2012) 1-8. The authors were Laura R. Saslow and Bob Willer, et al. It was published on line before print and can found in a pdf: http://rifters.com/real/articles/MyBrothersKeeperCompassionPredictsGenerosityMoreAmongLessReligiousIndividuals.pdf Abstract Past research argues that religious commitments shape individuals’ prosocial sentiments, including their generosity and solidarity. But what drives the prosociality of less religious people? Three studies tested the hypothesis that, with fewer religious expec- tations of prosociali