http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/12/07/nonreligious-girls-are-the-most-athletic/When I first read of this study, I was intrigued. According to this news report (which seems to have been picked up by a few other places over the last few days), “children with no religious background tend to be the most skilful athletes”.
Why should that be? Well, I think the clue is in the particularly low scores for the Muslim girls (and other minor religions). These girls are often restricted by their culture from fully participating in sport.
It could simply be that religious parents – both Christian and Muslim, have sexist attitudes towards kids and sport. Muslims tend to discourage kids from sport, but especially girls. Christians tend to encourage kids, but especially boys.
Non-religious parents, on the other hand, seem to be not particularly sports-minded, but are completely non-sexist when it comes to encouraging their kids. As a result, their boys have only average ability, but their girls are way above average.