A GOOD way to start an argument at a dinner party is to assert that religion divides people and inspires them to evil. There is plenty to support this contention: anti-Muslim pogroms by Hindus in India; the bombings and murders carried out by anti-abortion Christians in America; the long list of crimes committed against Christians (and Zoroastrians, Yazidis, non-Sunni Muslims and anyone else who disagrees with them) by Islamic State. But there is a good case for the defence, too. Around the world the religious shelter the homeless, feed the hungry and perform all sorts of charitable works.
Trading anecdotes, though, is unlikely to convince anyone. Much better to do an experiment. And that, in a small way, is exactly what a team led by Jeremy Ginges, a psychologist at the New School for Social Research in New York, has just done.
As part of some broader public-opinion polling, Dr Ginges and his colleagues presented 555 Palestinian youngsters, between the ages of 11 and 18, with a classic ethical dilemma known as the trolley problem. Participants were invited to imagine a runaway lorry (railways and their attendant trolleys being rare in...Continue reading
Source: Science and technology http://ift.tt/1O08IqC
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