AN ARGUMENT often advanced for the encouragement of religion is that, to paraphrase St Matthew's report of Jesus's words, it leads people to love their neighbours as themselves. That would be a powerful point were it true. But is it? This was the question Jean Decety, a developmental neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, asked in a study just published in Current Biology. Dr Decety is not the first to wonder, in a scientific way, about the connection between religion and altruism. He is, ...
AN ARGUMENT often advanced for the encouragement of religion is that, to paraphrase St Matthew's report of Jesus's words, it leads people to love their neighbours as themselves. That would be a powerful point were it true. But is it? This was the question Jean Decety, a developmental neuroscientist at the University of Chicago, asked in a study just published in Current Biology. Dr Decety is not the first to wonder, in a scientific way, about the connection between religion and altruism. He is, ...
Share this Article
Recommended