[...] a new paper by psychologists Ilkka Pyysiäinen of the University of Helsinki and Marc Hauser of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts [...] point out that individuals presented with unfamiliar moral dilemmas show no difference in their responses if they have a religious background or not. [...]Thousands of people — varying widely in social background, age, education, religious affiliation and ethnicity — have taken the tests. Pyysiäinen and Hauser say the results (mainly still in the publication pipeline) indicate that "moral intuitions operate independently of religious background", although religion may influence responses in a few highly specific cases. [...]The authors' paper may annoy both religious and atheistic zealots. By taking it as a given that religion is an evolved social behaviour rather than a matter of divine revelation, it tacitly adopts an atheistic framework. Yet at the same time it assumes that religiosity is a fundamental aspect of human psychology, thereby undermining those who see it as culturally imposed folly that can be erased with a cold shower of rationality. [...]All the same, the tests show that neither culture nor religion matter very much: other factors — presumed to be inherited — dictate our judgements.
Philip Ball, na Nature News
