{"id":25657,"date":"2024-12-16T13:05:15","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=25657"},"modified":"2024-12-16T13:05:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T18:05:25","slug":"are-religious-people-more-generous-than-non-religious-people-what-new-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2024\/12\/are-religious-people-more-generous-than-non-religious-people-what-new-study-finds","title":{"rendered":"Are Religious People More Generous Than Non-religious People? What New Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

People of faith are\u00a0not more generous<\/a>\u00a0than non-religious people \u2014 except in one case, a new study found.<\/p>\n

A study by researchers at Link\u00f6ping University in Sweden found that religious people are more generous than non-religious people when they know the recipients\u2019 religious beliefs \u2014 otherwise there is no difference.<\/p>\n

The research includes three studies of Christians, Muslims and atheists in different countries, including Sweden, the United States and a combined study in Egypt and Lebanon. About 1,700 people were included in the study published in September by Cambridge University Press.<\/p>\n

The results are slightly surprising as some recent studies have shown that people with religious beliefs are more likely to be generous than non-religious people.<\/p>\n

In 2016, a Pew Research Center study of U.S. adults found that highly religious Americans are\u00a0more likely to donate<\/a>\u00a0time, money or goods to help the poor, and in 2021, a YouGov poll of adults in the United Kingdom revealed that religious people are\u00a0more likely to be charitable<\/a>\u00a0than those that are non-practicing or irreligious.<\/p>\n

How the Study Worked<\/h2>\n

Study participants were asked to distribute fake money among themselves and three hypothetical recipients over six rounds, researchers said.<\/p>\n

In each round, moderators revealed something about the recipients, including one round where participants were told about the recipients\u2019 religious beliefs.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, people gave the same amount of money, excluding the round that religious information was revealed, when participants of religious background became more generous than their non-religious counterparts, researchers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was shown mainly by them\u00a0giving more money<\/a>\u00a0to those of the same faith as themselves,\u201d researchers said in a Dec. 11 news release.<\/p>\n

Religious Group Differences<\/h2>\n

Researchers also noted that Muslims in the U.S. tended to give more to recipients of the same religious beliefs than Christians and atheists did.<\/p>\n

Although there were not enough Muslim participants in Sweden to make the comparison, experts said there were signs that results were similar.<\/p>\n

In Lebanon and Egypt, there was no difference in giving between Christians and Muslims, according to the research.<\/p>\n

The study did not include people of other religious\/non-religious groups outside of Christianity, Islam and atheism.<\/p>\n

\n

This article originally appeared on MSN<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People of faith are\u00a0not more generous\u00a0than non-religious people \u2014 except in one case, a new study found. A study by researchers at Link\u00f6ping University in Sweden found that religious people are more generous than non-religious people when they know the recipients\u2019 religious beliefs \u2014 otherwise there is no difference. The research includes three studies of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":627,"featured_media":25645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2494],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-study"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Religious People More Generous Than Non-religious People? 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