Tcg wrote: ↑Sun Jan 16, 2022 8:30 am
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This article reports on data from Germany that reveals that abolishing religious teaching in schools leads to a decline in belief but not morality:
Ending religion lessons in schools leads to overall decline in belief but not morals
Torsten Bell
Data taken from across Germany reveals that as mandated RE was abolished, atheism increased as a collective choice
We tend to think about religiousness as a personal decision but new research examining the role of schools illustrates that collective choices have a part to play. The authors use data from Germany, exploiting the fact the religious education mandated by the postwar West German constitution was removed across different states at different times from the 1970s. They find abolishment significantly reduced religiousness, both in private (less praying) and public (church attendance). The effect was biggest in Catholic areas.
Before the social conservatives get all up in arms, note there was no impact on moral or ethical views, life satisfaction or political leaning. That may be because religious education was replaced with non-denominational ethical teaching, rather than more maths.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... not-morals
Does this finding support the claim some make that humans are indeed atheists at birth and will remain so unless or until they are taught to believe in god/gods?
Is it likely that some will continue to view atheists as being less moral than theists even though the data reported here contradicts that view and if so, why?
Tcg
1.There is a subjective (societal)morality that has developed as eons went by.
2.Also we humans have an objective morality that exist independent of religious propaganda or what we have been taught as one grows up in society.
Evolution -> Mirror neurons -> Affective Empathy.
As a result of this mirroring process =affective empathy we humans(except psychopaths who have a innate problem involving the affective empathy) have developed intrinsically a sense of morality) mostly guided by the Golden Rule or law of reciprocity which is the principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated oneself.
It is a fact that when you see children, women being raped, tortured or killed; when you see the face of someone experiencing intense fear/pain/suffering your mirror neurons fire and the affective empathy process is triggered. You empathize with these people for you put yourself in their shoes aka the mirroring process and because you would not want to be raped, tortured, killed(your existence to be stopped, because of the survival instinct) you instinctively find these actions abhorrent.
The above two kind of morality do not disappear after one is no longer subjected to religious propaganda.
Off course some religious people would never believe morality or people behaving morally can exist without the “objective morality” of the bible.
The problem is reality always finds ways to contradict the ramblings of religious people may that be beliefs about global floods, gays, young earth and universe, language origin or in this case morality.
Off course all humans are born atheists(lack a belief in god or gods).
(Opinion)Absent religious indoctrination and brainwash I and many billions of people would have not believe in god or gods.