Atheism and empathy

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African children who received Manna Packs of rice from the Christian relief organization Feed My Starving Children.

The Barna Group found that even when church-based giving is subtracted from the equation, active-faith adults donated twice as many dollars last year as did atheists and agnostics.[1] See also: Atheism and charity

Empathy is the understanding of the emotional state or thoughts of another person.

In 2007 the Baptist Press reported about atheism and empathy:

“ ...a pollster at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, found that adults who profess a belief in God are significantly more likely than atheists to say that forgiveness, patience, generosity and a concern for others are "very important." In fact, the poll found that on 11 of 12 values, there was a double-digit gap between theists and atheists, with theists more likely to label each value "very important."

The survey by sociologist and pollster Reginald Bibby examined the beliefs of 1,600 Canadians, 82 percent who said they believed in "God or a higher power" and 18 percent who said they did not.[2]

”

From a metaphysical, moral and spiritual perspective, atheists have an inability to satisfactorily explain the existence of love.[3][4] See also: Atheism and love and Atheism and social justice

Atheism and charity

See also: Atheism and charity

Most atheists likely live in East Asia (see: Asian atheism).

A beggar in Cambodia. In Cambodia, the vast majority of the population adheres to a nontheistic form of Buddhism called the Theravada school of Buddhism.

A comprehensive study by Harvard University professor Robert Putnam found that religious people are more charitable than their irreligious counterparts.[5]

Concerning the issue of atheism and charity]], charitable giving by atheists and agnostics in America is significantly less than by theists, according to a study by the Barna Group:

“ The typical no-faith American donated just $200 in 2006, which is more than seven times less than the amount contributed by the prototypical active-faith adult ($1500). Even when church-based giving is subtracted from the equation, active-faith adults donated twice as many dollars last year as did atheists and agnostics. In fact, while just 7% of active-faith adults failed to contribute any personal funds in 2006, that compares with 22% among the no-faith adults.[1] ”

A comprehensive study by Harvard University professor Robert Putnam found that religious people are more charitable than their irreligious counterparts.[6][7] The study revealed that forty percent of worship service attending Americans volunteer regularly to help the poor and elderly as opposed to 15% of Americans who never attend services.[6][7] Moreover, religious individuals are more likely than non-religious individuals to volunteer for school and youth programs (36% vs. 15%), a neighborhood or civic group (26% vs. 13%), and for health care (21% vs. 13%).[6][7]

Arthur C. Brooks wrote in Policy Review regarding data collected in the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS) (data collected by in 2000 by researchers at universities throughout the United States and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research):

“ The differences in charity between secular and religious people are dramatic. Religious people are 25 percentage points more likely than secularists to donate money (91 percent to 66 percent) and 23 points more likely to volunteer time (67 percent to 44 percent). And, consistent with the findings of other writers, these data show that practicing a religion is more important than the actual religion itself in predicting charitable behavior. For example, among those who attend worship services regularly, 92 percent of Protestants give charitably, compared with 91 percent of Catholics, 91 percent of Jews, and 89 percent from other religions.[8] ”

Atheism and psychopathy

See also: Atheism and psychopathy

The perverse and cruel atheist Marquis de Sade in prison, 18th century line engraving. See: Atheism and sadism

Psychopathy is strongly correlated with crime, violence, and antisocial behavior.[9][10] See also: Irreligion, psychopathy, crime, violence and antisocial behavior

A psychopath is someone with an anti-social personality disorder characterized by violent, perverted or immoral behavior often leading to criminality. Psychopaths have little or no concern for other people. Some psychopaths equate love with sexual arousal.[11]

A 2016 study relating to atheism and psychopathy published in Plus One indicates:

“ Similarly, a survey of 312 college students examining the relationship between Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (RSWB) and ‘dark triad’ personality traits found that “RSWB was confirmed to be negatively correlated with these negative aspects of personality, in particular with subclinical psychopathy.”

...moral concern is associated with a spiritual worldview.[12]

”

According to the 2014 journal article Correlates of psychopathic personality traits in everyday life: results from a large community survey published in the journal Frontiers of Psychology lack of belief in God is positively associated with psychopathic traits.[13]

Atheism and sociopathy

See: Atheism and sociopathy

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Atheists and Agnostics Take Aim at Christians The Barna Update, 2007.
  2. ↑ Foust, Michael (October 23, 2007). "Poll: Atheists less likely to 'do good'" Baptist Press. Retrieved on July 20, 2014.
  3. ↑ How do atheists define love? by Dr. Taylor Marshall
  4. ↑ What is love? how materialist atheism fails to have a satisfactory answer, July 9, 2014
  5. ↑ Multiple references:
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Religious people make better citizens, study says by Pew Research Forum, May 13, 2009
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Religious people are 'better neighbors' by USA Today, 11/14/2010
  8. ↑ Brooks, Arthur C., faith and charitable giving Policy Review, Oct-Dec 2003, p.2.
  9. ↑ (2005) Handbook of Psychopathy. Guilford Press, 440–3. 
  10. ↑ Coid, Jeremy; Yang, Min; Ullrich, Simone; Roberts, Amanda; Moran, Paul; Bebbington, Paul; Brugha, Traolach; Jenkins, Rachel et al. (May 2009). [Psychopathy among prisoners in England and Wales "Psychopathy among prisoners in England and Wales"]. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (Elsevier Ltd) 32 (3): 134–41. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2009.02.008. PMID 19345418. Psychopathy among prisoners in England and Wales. Retrieved 1 April 2016. 
  11. ↑ Robert D. Hare (2011). Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us. Guilford Press, 52. ISBN 978-16062-35782. 
  12. ↑ Why Do You Believe in God? Relationships between Religious Belief, Analytic Thinking, Mentalizing and Moral Concern by Anthony Ian Jack , Jared Parker Friedman, Richard Eleftherios Boyatzis, Scott Nolan Taylor, Plus One, March 23, 2016
  13. ↑ Correlates of psychopathic personality traits in everyday life: results from a large community survey by Scott O. Lilienfeld, Robert D. Latzman, Ashley L. Watts, Sarah F. Smith, and Kevin Dutton, Frontiers of Psychology, 2014
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