It is believed that the reduction of the role of religion leads to moral decline in society. How legitimate are these fears?
In most European countries, the role of religion in society and the religiosity of the population have been steadily declining over the past decades. In these countries, each successive generation is less religious than the previous one.
Ingrid Storm from the University of Manchester (Great Britain) analyzed the results of sociological studies of European life values for the period from 1981 to 20081. Respondents, in particular, were asked in what situations they could justify the commission of “questionable” acts.
RELIGION AND EGOISM
These actions can be divided into two groups. The first group dealt with actions contrary to traditional views, such as, for example, abortion and homosexual contacts. In the second group, actions were mentioned that could harm others or violate the law – lying, cheating, stealing, and others.
It turned out that during the period mentioned, Europeans became much more tolerant of actions from the first group, but their attitude towards actions from the second group did not change.
Religious people, on average, care slightly less about personal gain
“As the influence of religion declined in Europe, matters relating to family and sexuality came to be seen as a personal choice of the individual. Each successive generation is distinguished by more liberal views on these issues than the previous one. At the same time, we do not see any evidence that moral values have shifted towards selfishness or anti-sociality.
At the same time, the study showed that religious people, on average, care a little less about personal gain, but this fact is largely due to their age. On average, religious people in Europe are older than non-religious people, and older people are known to be more likely to denounce selfish motives.
RELIGION AND CRULITY
Another recent study suggests that children from religious families may be less generous and more violent than their non-religious peers.
A group of psychologists led by Professor Jean Decety of the University of Chicago (USA) studied the behavior of 1170 children aged 5 to 12 from Canada, China, Turkey, the USA, Jordan and South Africa2.
In the course of the experiments, children from religious families were less likely to agree to share the stickers given to them with other children. They also supported harsher punishments for various anti-social acts.
Children from religious families may be less generous and more violent than their non-religious peers.
“These results show the same effect in different countries: religiosity reduces the altruism of children. This calls into question the widespread notion that religiosity promotes prosocial behavior and is necessary for the moral education of the individual. It is quite possible that the transition of morality from the religious to the secular plane will not only not lead to a decrease in human kindness, but will have the opposite effect, ”reflects Gina Diceti.
1. I. Storm «Morality in Context: A Multilevel Analysis of the Relationship between Religion and Values in Europe», Politics and Religion, December 2015.
2. J. Decety et al. «The Negative Association between Religiousness and Children’s Altruism across the World», Current Biology, vol. 25, Issue 22, November 2015.