Does Secularism Make People More Ethical?

[Mr. McD]

"For example, many believe that the US population is steadily becoming more religious -- but this is an optical illusion. Many evangelicals have simply become more aggressive and more political."

The most surprising insight revealed by the new wave of secular research so far is that atheists know more about the God they don't believe in than the believers themselves. This is the conclusion suggested by a 2010 Pew Research Center survey of US citizens. Even when the higher education levels of the unreligious were factored out, they proved to be better informed in matters of faith, followed by Jewish and Mormon believers.

Fixed link.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0%2C1518%2C777281%2C00.html

[lumpy]

1. Yes

v

[unblock]

2. or does being more ethical make people more secular?

religion provides great cover for evil, both for those bent on doing more evil under cloak of good, and also for those who feel guilty but want to feel forgiven.

i've certainly known plenty of good, religious people, but i've also known plenty of rotten people who are very religious, or at least who protrayed themselves as such.

i suppose religion could lead to immorality based on a misguided sense of loyalty (to the church intead of to their neighbor, e.g.) but i actually think the causality, if any, goes mostly the other way -- those who are very ethical may not feel a great need for religion and are less attracted to it.

of course it's a complicated question as there are many reasons to be or not to be religious, most having little or nothing to do with ethics per se. people often do it out of habit or tradition or community or identity or because they want their kids raised as part of the same tradition they were raised.

[struggle4progress]

3. Der Spiegel misrepresents the 2010 Pew survey: what it actually shows is

Mormons can correctly answer about 66% of 12 questions about the Bible & Christianity; white evangelicals can correctly answer about 61% of 12 questions about the Bible & Christianity; everybody else does worse

Jews can correctly answer about 72% of 11 questions about world religions (including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism); atheist/agnostics can correctly answer about 68% of 11 questions about world religions (including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism); everybody else does worse

Atheist/agnostics can correctly answer about 70% of 4 questions about religion in the US public sphere; Jews can correctly answer about 68% of 4 questions about religion in the US public sphere; everybody else does worse

So there were only about 27 multiple-choice questions on "religious issues" -- and nothing is probed very deeply: What is Ramadan? When does the Sabbath begin? How old is Mormonism? &c

See: http://pewforum.org/other-beliefs-and-practices/u-s-religious-knowledge-survey.aspx

[okasha]

4. Party pooper.

There you go again, injecting reality into the discussion.

[cleanhippie]

6. Bwahahahahaha! Considering your beliefs, what do you know about reality?

From what I have seen in your posts, nothing about your beliefs are grounded in anything even RESEMBLING reality.

[darkstar3]

8. It's a survey about basic religious knowledge regarding three foci

1. Basic knowledge of Christianity.
2. Basic knowledge of other world religions.
3. Basic knowledge of religious interaction with public life.

32 questions would be more than adequate to determine the basic knowledge level that one has regarding these foci. Furthermore, the data I see here is not misrepresented by Der Spiegel. Atheists are more informed about basic religious knowledge than others. (And I keep italicizing that because, if you think logically about it for 2 seconds, you would think that religious people would be more informed about basic religious knowledge.)

[Jim__]

5. On what ethical standard do we base an answer? - n/t

[cleanhippie]

7. Perhaps its just that secular people just ARE more ethical.

Or perhaps, not. One thing is for sure, being a believer in a religion certainly does NOT make one more ethical.

[darkstar3]

9. Ethics are not derived from religion,

and they never have been. Religion does, however, institutionalize as ethical standard the moral codes of a past society, and therefore I would say that abandonment of such religion can only lead to a continued growth in ethical considerations.

[laconicsax]

10. +1

[Odin2005]

11. Religiosity is a way to cover up one's immorality.

[cleanhippie]

12. Agreed.

[Rob H.]

13. Yep

The three most fundamentally dishonest people I've ever met (and I still work with two of them) are the same three people I've met who crow loudest about how involved they are in their churches.

[LeftishBrit]

14. No. But anti-secular governments are intrinsically *un*ethical IMO.

Ethics don't IMO depend strongly on people's belief or unbelief in the supernatural. But using religion - or any belief - in the cause of authoritarianism, or treating atheists or religious minorities as inferior citizens, is IMO immoral.

[Meshuga]

15. +1

As usual. :-)