Secular Café: Non-religious more likely to donate their bodies to science and organs to other people

Secular Café Discuss atheism, religious apologetics, separation of church & state, theology, comparative religion and scripture.

Non-religious more likely to donate their bodies to science and organs to other people May 9th 2012, 12:15 Non Religious more likely to donate organs for transplant & bodies to science Another possibly contentious study... Quote: <SNIP>....read the full article at the link..... There is an exception, however. Religious people are no more likely to be blood donors than the non-religious, and they seem less likely to sign up to be organ donors. But it's not just about giving. A recent study in the Netherlands also supports the idea that the non-religious are the most likely to buy into the idea of being an organ recipient, as well as an organ donor. So is there something special about donating body tissue? Well I suspect there might be. Maybe what is affecting judgements here is essentialism – the idea that all things (especially living things) have some kind of soul or essence that defines them. After all, if a kidney transplant can make you speak a foreign language, or a heart transplant make you commit suicide, then you need to be a bit cautious! And perhaps, despite the theological teachings that say a dead body is empty, perhaps ordinary folk-religion takes a different perspective.

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