Q&A: The Overwhelming Majority of Kidney Donors Are Religious
The Overwhelming Majority of Kidney Donors Are Religious
Question
What do you think can be learned from the fact that 87% of altruistic kidney donors are religious? What is the main lesson here, in your view?
Answer
I don’t know. That they are good people who are willing to donate.
Discussion on Answer
In my opinion, no. There are religious groups that donate less, like Haredim. The joke is that at the kidney-donation association’s conference, the speakers/managers are Haredi, the waiters are Arab, and the audience (the donors) are Religious Zionists.
Also, other moral activities are דווקא done by secular people (Greenpeace, aid to victims of disasters around the world, and so on).
https://www.knowingfaith.co.il/%D7%99%D7%94%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%95%D7%97%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A8-%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A8
An article from the Olamot Institute website. It also appears in the book Truth and Obligation by Rabbi Moshe Rat. The article argues unequivocally that religious people do more moral acts. The question is, as the questioner asked, whether that means anything. Also, this is not about the Jewish religion specifically but about religious life in general, so a claim of correlation between the two is not about Judaism but about moral acts and some kind of religious life.
There are many studies about the connection between religious life and various positive things.
Here are two examples that illustrate the value of such “studies”:
[4.5, 9:30] Michael Abraham: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.haaretz.co.il/science/2025-05-02/ty-article-magazine/.premium/00000196-8cea-dc27-a3df-fefa895c0000&ved=2ahUKEwj08MDbl4mNAxVIVKQEHa5lFv8QFnoECCAQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw1S11z9qDrJ1UfQB096Do-1
[4.5, 9:31] Michael Abraham: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://israelithought.co.il/index_israel/%25D7%259E%25D7%2593%25D7%2593-%25D7%2594%25D7%25A9%25D7%2592%25D7%25A9%25D7%2595%25D7%2592-%25D7%25A9%25D7%259C-%25D7%259C%25D7%2592%25D7%2598%25D7%2595%25D7%259D-legatum-prosperity-index/&ved=2ahUKEwj08MDbl4mNAxVIVKQEHa5lFv8QFnoECE8QAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw1mRD3zOyZ4-weyyfCHfOjb
I can’t open the first source because I’m not subscribed to Haaretz. In any case, we’re talking about the relationship between religious people and morality, not about Israel’s prosperity. I didn’t understand why the sources are relevant.
Over there they attribute it to religiosity. Beyond that, the very contradiction shows just how flexible these surveys are.
Can’t one learn something from this about the connection between a religious lifestyle and prosocial behavior?