Could an atheist be more compassionate by nature than a Christian, Muslim or someone of another religion? A recent study has indicated exactly that people who are nonreligious or agnostic tend to be more driven by compassion for others than religionists and those who are strong believers in religious dogma.
The study involved showing videos of impoverished children, and other sensitive materials, to groups of atheists as well as very religious people. The subjects were then given $10.00 fake dollars to determine how much of that money they would be willing to give to those in need. As to be expected, those overly religious types seemed to want to give far less than what was offered by atheistic and agnostic test subjects.
The study has indicated that those who don't believe in deities, religion or dogma indicating mandatory tithing tend to donate and give charitably out of sheer compassion alone. This is more than could be said for those who give only because their religion teaches them that they have to.
Even though nonbelievers tend to be "less trusted" due to the malicious lies and misrepresentation of the religious right, it seems that by nature they are just simply better people.
Crime analyst and profiler Chelsea Hoffman can be found on The Huffington Post, Chelsea Hoffman: Case to Case and many other outlets. Follow @TheRealChelseaH on Twitter or click here to contact Chelsea directly.
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Comments: 31 ( 2 removed by Chelsea Hoffman )
Thought I'd try for agnostic but..... "No man can be an agnostic who has a sense of humour." per E. M. Forster ..... so that shoe doesn't fit. lol
Even as an atheist, I'm still probably 30% agnostic lol
But after meeting you , Chelsea, am re-thinking that fight. I wouldn't mind coming back, if I could come back with your type of gut-ability. lol
My parents' compassion, and what they created in response to that compassion, is legendary in the field of care for the developmentally disabled. And they risked everything, and gave most of what they had to fulfill their need to help. A registered nurse and a welder, and their legacy is this!
I think true Christians, people who truly try to live like Christ, are most compassionate.
Curious if you have read the 'Lost Books of the Bible'?
lost books?
I tend to be slightly less defensive over a book title. Read it many years ago and found aspects of it interesting.
but yeah, not doubting it was interesting... the da vinci code was interesting too IMHO.. and probably had at least an ounce of truth to it.
With that out of the way, will move on. The General Epistle of Barnabas is part of the Lost Books. Barnabas being a companion of the apostle Paul. His Epistle has been accepted as having genuine canonical authority by many religious figures. There are few dissenters.
Barnabas writes this in regards to conception:
Chapter XIV (11). Thou shalt not destroy thy conceptions before they are brought forth; nor kill them after they are born.
...........................................................
The Bible (official) has no such clear cut directive regarding conception. 'Thy shalt not kill' is the blanket for abortion. Seeing as the Epistles of Barnabas were written in a time allowing for inclusion in Bible, I find it curious that such a directive was dismissed. Perhaps it was not considered of importance at the time? Or did pettiness/egos take priority over belief?
I, personally, don't give a whole lot of thought to whether atheists or non-believers are trustworthy. This walk of life is an individual walk and no group deserves to be labeled because of the actions of a few. I am not 'religious,' but, I love the Lord and I am a Christian. I wasn't born a Christian, no one is, therefore, I was at one time considered a non-believer, but, my character is no different than it was at that time. I am not perfect - who is? And isn't that what we are really talking about here - character? And, as we all know, being religious doesn't necessarily mean that a person is of good character. I believe that character is developed and has NOTHING to do with religious orientation.
I don't judge people based on their religious or political beliefs, but, by their own actions. I think it is hype that 'religious' people believe that atheists and non-believers are lowly and not trustworthy. Don't buy into that. As a Christian, I know, that we have ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none walking this earth who is righteous by his own merit, but, it is through Christ. I have NO righteousness of my own. So, why would I look down on a non-believer or atheist? And if you find someone who does do this, then, consider the source, smile and shake your head, and let it roll off your back.
You're free to also write your own ;)
the rest of your comment was a bunch of religious stuff... no offense, but not interested so didn't bother. I get the point though.. you were essentially saying:
"I don't agree with your opinion or the study or the source repeating nearly the same thing you said.."
message received.. what have you solved?
;)
No offense on that -- I get a lot of biblical rants so my brain filter automatically shuts out posts that certain words pop out upon a primary eye scan.
I get that you don't agree with what was essentially quoted by the researchers of the above study, and expressed as an opinion by myself. I am simply expressing that you are free to also write your opinions, but I am going to stick to my own and keep being me.
Thanks.
but at that point you're not really arguing that point with me, but instead with conductors of surveys and studies that don't account for every single person in the world. Not my fault, not yours -- so no biggie and not worth an argument.
You took things entirely the wrong way. Oh well.. I did try.
But at any rate, nobody forced you to read mine -- just like I'm not forced to read anything that I don't feel like reading. Food for thought.
In my opinion the study proves a lot, but it's not the only thing that has. Just recently Reddit's r/atheism raised more than $200,000.00 for Doctors Without Borders.. the competing christian-based subreddit was only able to round up $80,000 or so?
That's worthy of it's own study using at least quadruple number of religious people to the number used in the study..
I'm not being hateful, just pointing out that even though some people are "nice" and "exceptions" -- there appears to be a growing trend in "not so nice" people in the groups they associate themselves with.