Mean Religious Kids?

Mean Religious Kids?

"Another problem, Woodberry says, is that the researchers failed to “interpret the religious children’s concern for people who were pushed or hurt by another child as a sign of altruism.” Instead, they interpreted it as “vindictiveness.” Doesn’t that tell us more about the authors of the study than the children? A third problem is that media reports largely gloss over the actual beliefs attributed to the kids. Here’s the breakdown: Muslim children (43 percent), Christians (24 percent), non-religious (28 percent). Why didn’t the media emphasize that?...



There are other problems, but allow me to point out just one more. This heavily hyped research contradicts many, many other studies that show precisely the opposite. For example, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports, “The more important religion is to a person, the more likely that person is to give to a charity.” Woodberry says numerous studies show a “positive relationship between religion and helping behavior both at the societal level and the individual level.”



We’ve seen this throughout history, in everything from Christians in the Roman Empire caring for plague victims to William Wilberforce shutting down the British slave trade. Of course, we can never rest on our laurels. And religious children are still, well, children. Little sinners, just like their non-religious friends.



But this instance is yet another example that when it comes to the headlines, you cannot believe everything you read!"