When it comes to generosity, does belief in a higher power make you more likely to give? Or is generosity universal, transcending religious labels? A groundbreaking study conducted across Sweden, the USA, Egypt, and Lebanon has revealed some fascinating, and perhaps unsettling, truths about how our beliefs influence our willingness to share—and with whom.
Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, set out to answer a question long debated in academic circles and over dinner tables: Are religious people more generous than non-believers? The answer, it turns out, depends not on how much you believe, but on whom you’re giving to.
When Belief Meets Generosity
The study’s results, recently published in the journal *Judgement and Decision Making*, show that religious believers and atheists are equally generous—but only as long as they don’t know the recipient’s beliefs. Once recipients’ religious affiliations are revealed, generosity shifts dramatically. Both religious individuals and atheists show a clear tendency to favor their own group, though the effect is stronger among the religious.
This pattern emerged across all three studies in Sweden, the USA, and the Middle East. The researchers conducted a series of experiments with nearly 1,700 participants in total, asking them to distribute fictitious money among hypothetical recipients. When religion entered the equation, participants consistently gave more to those who shared their beliefs.
A Deep Dive into Group Bias
In Sweden, for example, 398 participants distributed money over six rounds, each time learning a new piece of information about the hypothetical recipients—from their favorite hobbies to their political views and, in one round, their religion. In most rounds, generosity was evenly distributed. But when religion was revealed, the dynamics shifted: religious participants gave more to their co-religionists, while atheists, surprisingly, also favored their own non-believing group.
“I was actually surprised because the only thing that unites atheists is that you don’t believe in a god,” said Nathalie Hallin, one of the lead researchers and an atheist herself.
Follow-up studies in the USA and the Middle East reinforced these findings. In the USA, Muslims showed the strongest bias, favoring their own group more than Christians or atheists did. In Lebanon and Egypt, however, Christians and Muslims were equally generous within their groups, while a lack of atheist participants made broader comparisons difficult.
Generosity or Tribalism?
From a freethinker’s perspective, these findings raise important questions. Is generosity still generosity when it’s conditional on shared beliefs? Or is it a form of tribalism masquerading as altruism? Favoring one’s own group may feel natural, but it also perpetuates division in societies already fractured along religious lines.
As freethinkers, we champion the idea that compassion and generosity should be extended to all, regardless of belief. These findings challenge us to examine the unconscious biases that may shape even our most well-intentioned actions. They also underscore the importance of building bridges across ideological divides, rather than reinforcing them.
What Does It Mean to Be Generous?
Hallin and her colleague Hajdi Moche, a Christian, are careful not to pass judgment on the results. “Favouring one’s own can be considered unfair, but can, for example, be seen as better than not being generous at all,” Moche noted.
But generosity comes in many forms: time, care, love—not just money. From this perspective, freethinkers might ask whether religious teachings on charity focus too narrowly on monetary giving, and whether this creates an incomplete picture of what it means to be generous.
A Call to Universal Compassion
This study’s findings are a reminder of the power of shared identity—and its limitations. Whether religious or not, we all have a tendency to favor those who reflect our own beliefs and values. But true generosity transcends these boundaries. It’s about recognizing our shared humanity and extending kindness even when there’s no immediate connection.
For freethinkers, the challenge is clear: How can we model a form of giving that is truly unconditional? How can we inspire others to move beyond the tribalism of belief systems and embrace a more universal compassion? These are questions worth pondering, especially in a world that so desperately needs empathy—from all of us, for all of us.
