Religion Makes Children Meaner

[stilltruckin]

At least Christianity and Islam do . . . theguardian.com/world/2015/...

[Gary56]

Interesting idea.

[Hidden]

Interesting. Xx Sonia xx

[medow]

That sort of backs up thoughts I've had before, thank you

[hufferpuffer]

This is so sad.

[Hidden]

Doesn't surprise me in the least. I've got no time for religion, causes too much trouble

[stilltruckin]

“Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies.”

― Joseph Campbell

[jimmyw123]

There's a big difference between religion and belief !!

lots of love jimmy, xxx

[Nikkers in reply to jimmyw123]

Wise words from a wise man! Well put Sir James. XX

[jimmyw123 in reply to Nikkers]

Thanks knikkers , not so sure about the "wise man" though ,,, its nearing x mas

love jimmy xxx

[Hidden]

I don't normally buy books specially on religion..

8 years ago I borught a book...

The God Delusion as I wanted to find out more on why people believed in God and such things..

I tired reading on the long fight to India...and gave up.

I asked a friend who stayed at the same beach resort and love reading..if she would have a look at it ...she did and gave it back the next day say it was to difficult to read...

I took it with me when I left India and went to China. ..

I left it in a 5 star hotel room in the draw next to the book of Buddha on the top of snow mountain.

When I was leaving they tried to give it back to me thinking I had forgotten it...

They where surprised when a said that I left it there as I didn't want it.

I do my best to keep my children away form religion and encourage them not to get involved with those that are a .

..bit to much..

My God look at the time 6.12am and here I am going on about something I got no time for.

Love you and leave you for today guys I promised one of my boys he can use my mobile today to play games.

Take care.

Andyxx

[Ergendl]

Not sure about the interpretation of the data in this piece - for instance: "Muslim children judged “interpersonal harm as more mean” than children from Christian families, with non-religious children the least judgmental."

Does that mean Muslim children thought that damaging other people was more wrong, and non-religious children didn't think it was wrong?

[Toci]

Growing up in a non-religious household may mean that children are taught less about what is 'good' and 'bad' in life and so may make them more tolerant due to ignorance. Just another viewpoint.

[onamission]

It is sad religion has been the cause of many wars

[Gary56]

Dont follow your logic Toci, are you saying non-religious households dont know the difference between "good" and "bad"?

[Toci in reply to Gary56]

No, just that there may be less rigidity and fewer rules in a non-religious household. For example, many religions teach that homosexuality is a sin, secular households have no such formal teaching and so may be more accepting of difference simply because they do not know this 'rule'. Some religions teach punitive punishments are in order for certain actions (for example chopping off a thief's hand) whilst the non-religiously tutored may not think those actions are that bad because they have never been told they are.

[stilltruckin]

From the study itself:

cell.com/current-biology/pd...

P.3 Quote:

'A second major finding from these data is that religiosity affects children’s punitive tendencies when evaluating interpersonal harm. . . . we employed ecologically valid depictions of everyday mundane interpersonal harm that occur in schools . . . Research indicates that religiousness is directly related to increased intolerance for and punitive attitudes toward interpersonal offenses, including the probability of

supporting harsh penalties. For instance, within Christianity, fundamentalists tend to be more punitive and advocate for harsher corrections than non-fundamentalists. Moreover, Christians are also argued to view the moral wrongness of an action as a dichotomy and are less likely to discriminate between gradients of wrongness, yielding equal ratings for a variety of transgressions.'

[Gary56 in reply to stilltruckin]

Very good ST, I know you like quoting things, but for the benefit of others can you put in simple english please.

[stilltruckin in reply to Gary56]

Which words or phrases seem obscure to you?

[stilltruckin in reply to stilltruckin]

Or how about . . .

'Religious Kids Can Be Mean, Nasty Little Jerks Compared To Atheist Kids': ifyouonlynews.com/religion/...

[Hidden in reply to stilltruckin]

It being a rainy afternoon, and an interesting piece of research which gratifyingly confirms my own opinion in the matter (!) I read both articles and think the ifyouonlynews.com one is much better. The other could be written in half the space if it used plain English instead of academese

[Gary56 in reply to stilltruckin]

If you understand the things you quote, why not paraphrase instead of just quoting?

[stilltruckin in reply to Gary56]

Why would I paraphrase something when it's easier and more accurate to quote the exact words?

[Gary56 in reply to stilltruckin]

You keep believing that, I'll leave you to it

[stilltruckin in reply to Gary56]

Please eschew obfuscation.

[Gary56 in reply to stilltruckin]

ohh aren't you the clever one, big words and everything

[stilltruckin in reply to Gary56]

My vocabulary is pretty good, but I only know 'eschew obfuscation' because it was printed on a coffee mug I was given.

I'm now wondering if when you said 'paraphrase' what you meant was 'summarise'?

[Gary56 in reply to stilltruckin]

No, I mean paraphrase. Do you have anopinion on the article? I would enjoy your input.

[stilltruckin in reply to Gary56]

Very interesting. Seemed counter-intuitive at first, but only because religion usually gets a good press.

On reflection it makes sense that evolution has selected for an optimum level of altruism in the average human, and messing with it could only distort it.

Have no personal experience of religious people or their children.

[stilltruckin]

landoverbaptist.net/showthr...

Quote:

'. . . The study also found that “religiosity affects children’s punitive tendencies”. Children from religious households “frequently appear to be more judgmental of others’ actions”, it said.

So far, so good. . . . Of course our children would know that the secular society does not punish criminals but grants them luxurious care in state prisons. God is not pleased, He demands harsh punishment, as it is the only one that could lead sinning children to experience His Love. Without punishment, no-one would follow God's commandments, there would be no morality, everyone could do anything. . . .'