08 May 2012

Atheists More Motivated by Compassion

"Overall, this research suggests that although less religious people tend to be less trusted in the U.S., when feeling compassionate, they may actually be more inclined to help their fellow citizens than more religious people," Willer said. source
I have shown the same conclusion from the statistics of Kiva.org. As the time of this writing this post, Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious team has loaned slightly over 7 million while the runner-up, the Kiva Christians has loaned about 4 million. Compassion and empathy, a result of evolution for social animals, are the primary driving forces for charitable deeds. This holds true for both religious and irreligious people. However, when religion started to divide people based on a belief, the result is limiting charitable deeds to a "closer" group and overlooks the bigger picture.