Atheists Are Generous-They Just Don’t Give to Charity

I write a regular column for Free Inquiry, the magazine of the Council for Secular Humanism, in the USA. Most often, you can only read them if you’re a subscriber. But it looks like my last one was one of the ones they picked to be above the paywall.

So here’s a link to it: Atheists Are Generous-They Just Don’t Give to Charity. I wrote it as a response to a column by Tom Flynn, the journal’s editor: Are Secularists Less Generous?

The general theme will be pretty familiar to regular readers. If you’re interested to read more about the studies cited, well here’s where you can find the relevant blog posts:

• Non-religious doctors are just as altruistic
• Blood donations: religious and non-religious are equally generous 
• Are religious people more co-operative? How to prove what you want by careful experimental design
• Religious situations, but not beliefs, help foster trust
• Christian morality: the Sunday effect
• How religion makes people vote right-wing

You might also want to take a look at Least Church-Going Rich Countries Give Most!

This article by Tom Rees was first published on Epiphenom. It is licensed under Creative Commons.