At FuturePundit, see a summary of a recent twins study showing a modest genetic influence on both religiosity and altruism, as well as a potential link between the two.
Blogger Randall Parker also conjectures that both religiosity and altruism are being selected for in industrialized societies. Religious people tend to have more children, while “selfish people are probably less willing to have kids due to all the work entailed.” If these trends continue, we can expect to see increasing proportions of religious, altruistic people in future generations.
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