Bear with me here.

It seems like people that self-proclaim as religious in today’s day and age have more of a tendency to be fat(gluttony) and be greedy(never, or at least very very minimally give money to someone or actual charities out of the goodness of ones heart is my definition.)- I could be wrong about the latter.. read on..

That premise seems more like characteristics of today’s religious people as opposed to a few generations ago. Anecdote- I know a couple who is literally 99 and 100 years old, and very religious. They are the best people on the planet. They give to charities, the church - regardless whether churches of today are corrupt, they weren’t aware of any corruption by the church they gave to, I know this because there actually was some questionable behavior in the town’s local Catholic Church and they decided to stop giving.. they lived and continue to live with just basic needs and some minor luxuries, didn’t over-eat, didn’t abuse any substances, and honest. Not saying over-eating makes someone bad or drug abuse makes someone bad, because we should be more focused at how much empathy religious people of the past had verses someone now, because that’s what matters the most. Religion might not be to blame, could just be because of the different period in time.

But it definitely seems like, and I think research might show, that religious people of today do tend to be fatter and be more greedy. Depending on how you define greedy...

Do religious people of today give more to charities verses the non religious? Good question. Religious people give more to churches obviously, but is that because they think god will help THEM in return or is it because they really wanted to help someone? That doesn’t really matter because at least they did give money.

So a better question would be: Do religious people (of today) give more money( as a PERCENTAGE of individual worth) to other people, or do the non-religious?

Keep in mind this is spendable money we’re talking here. This isn’t just helping someone and NOT accepting anything in return. I think that particular group of people is really small and we need more of them.

We tend to care about each other when they have similar attributes. (Appearance, religious affiliation, ideology, political bias)- and I think that is where the problem lies. I do, however, understand not wanting to perpetuate a certain ideology because it may compromise one’s own comfort and quality of life. Maybe it’s a fact that we will always be tribalistic. I hope we can at least diminish it a little. We need to care about each other regardless of what defines us.

I guess another sudden realization, is that religion may bring people closer together and give them a reason to care about each other. But, if you look at society as a whole, we have more of an ability to care about each other than ever before because of using scientific principles as a tool to help us.

We have had scientific advancements in medicine and technology that has improved lives and lengthened lifespans, all based on scientific principle, not religion. Were these advancements the outcome of war? To help kill someone or decimate another group of people with differing ideas (differing religions, sometimes) or simply to protect the lives of one side in a defensive way? Sometimes- Did the advancements only happen because there was a financial incentive? Sometimes.

Bottom line: We should strive to show sympathy and empathy, and work to be creative and innovative not for financial incentive, not for dominance of power, not because the receiving end is similar to us, but because we are all life on the small planet called Earth.