Psac,
More data which refutes your compassion theory (the study doesn't suggest religious people aren't generous, just that their motivations are more likely due to a sense of responsibility rather than human compassion):
Religious People Less Driven By Compassion Than Are Atheists And Agnostics, Study Says
Published: 05/01/2012 12:11 PM EDT on LiveScience
Atheists and agnostics are more driven by compassion to help others than are highly religious people, a new study finds.
That doesn't mean highly religious people don't give, according to the research to be published in the July 2012 issue of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. But compassion seems to drive religious people's charitable feelings less than other groups.
"Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not," study co-author and University of California, Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer said in a statement. "The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns."
The actual study:
My Brother’s Keeper?
Compassion Predicts Generosity More Among Less Religious Individuals
- Laura R. Saslow1⇓
- Robb Willer2⇓
- Matthew Feinberg2
- Paul K. Piff2
- Katharine Clark3
- Dacher Keltner2
- Sarina R. Saturn4
- 1 University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- 2 University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
- 3 University of Colorado, Boulder
- 4 Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA