u/Helpful-Act6102

One theme stood out among 96% of rescuers. They were taught universal moral principles, gradually internalizing them by their parents' loving example and not by religion. Religion externalizes morality because you do what you are told by an external source. But rescuers were rarely religious. Rather, they had parents that helped them analyze the why of moral principles.

Among rescuers were some religious people, but many were agnostics and atheists, so religion was not a significant determinant. (neither was gender). The biggest determinant were parents who taught moral principles and who let their kids figure out the reason why these principles make sense.