(April 26, 2010 at 5:52 pm)True Christian Wrote:Quote:Oh oh - I would have never thought that TC's statement would be so easy to disprove...
Actually, there is no proof there of correlation between the fact that the are atheists and that they give more to charity. There are thousands of reasons that could explain that, for example their culture as a country.
Lets look at your reasoning :
-Sweden has a lot of atheists
-Sweden gives a lot to charity
-Atheists give a lot to charity
That's just illogical.
And you're missing the point completely.
It is a refutation of your argument: "religious people are more enclined to engage in charity because of their beliefs."
I'm not saying atheists are necessarily charitable, I'm saying that your assertion of religious people being more likely to donate doesn't hold any weight if it follows that the nations with the most religious people should be the most charitable.
In the top ten donating nations categorized by GNI, 9 have majority (> 50%) atheist/non-believer populations. This is a direct refutation that religious people are necessarily more altruistic than non-religious - that's all. I never said that the altruism was a result of their non-belief, I just contend that religion is not a necessary part of the equation, and the facts agree with me.