According to a Pew Forum poll from 2007, 57% of Americans think it is necessary to believe in God to be moral. Research, however, does not support the belief that religious people are more “moral” than non-religious people. As Mark Chaves (2010:5) recently noted:
Decades of psychological research looking for behavioral consequences in intrinsic religiosity has [...]
In the March 19, 2010 issue of Science, a group of anthropologists, economists and psychologists published a study titled “Markets, Religion, Community Size, and the Evolution of Fairness and Punishment.” If the title is any indication, this study covers some large topics with many potential variables.
The study has already garnered much attention. The New York [...]
While there is little doubt that many historically recent religions (i.e., those that have appeared in the last 2,000 years) are heavily invested in morality, it does not follow that earlier forms of religion — which might be called proto-religions – were grounded in morality. This is a logical and historical fallacy that afflicts much [...]
Tags:Barbara King·Frans de Waal·morality·Paleolithic religions·prosocial behavior·Stephen Pinker
