--- title: Are Religious People Nicer on Sundays? description: Are religious people nicer on Sundays? Prior research has found mixed evidence for the long-theorized link between religiosity and pro-social behavior. To help overcome this... canonical: https://time.com/42254/are-religious-people-nicer-on-sundays/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-30T04:01:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:53:54.025Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Are Religious People Nicer on Sundays? og:description: Are religious people nicer on Sundays? Prior research has found mixed evidence for the long-theorized link between religiosity and pro-social behavior. To help overcome this... og:url: https://time.com/42254/are-religious-people-nicer-on-sundays/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e2a2ac1ea25d32/698687e8d0b6f2655a3037fd/462805593.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Are Religious People Nicer On Sundays? og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Are Religious People Nicer on Sundays? twitter:description: Are religious people nicer on Sundays? Prior research has found mixed evidence for the long-theorized link between religiosity and pro-social behavior. To help overcome this... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt92e2a2ac1ea25d32/698687e8d0b6f2655a3037fd/462805593.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Are Religious People Nicer on Sundays? by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 30, 2014 4:01 AM UTC  Family Members Holding Hands While Saying Grace Family Members Holding Hands While Saying GraceCavan Image/Getty Images by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Mar 30, 2014 4:01 AM UTC Are religious people nicer on Sundays? --- > “” --- Source: [“(When) are religious people nicer? Religious salience and the ‘Sunday Effect’ on pro-social behavior” from Judgment and Decision Making, Vol. 5, No. 2, April 2010, pp. 138–143](http://journal.sjdm.org/10/10216/jdm10216.html) Well, I know what day I’ll be asking my churchgoing friends if I can borrow money… So does this mean if you go to church every day that you end up pretty altruistic? **Follow me** on Twitter [here](http://www.twitter.com/bakadesuyo/) or get updates via email [here](http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=bakadesuyo&loc=en%5FUS). Related Posts: [Priest, Minister and Rabbi: Which one does the most for the public good?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/priest-minister-and-rabbi-which-one-does-the) [Why do people say they’re “Spiritual but not religious”?](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/why-do-people-say-theyre-spiritual-but-not-re) [Here](http://bakadesuyo.com/is-sport-a-religion) you can find out if sports can be considered a religion. _This piece originally appeared on_ [_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/42254/are-religious-people-nicer-on-sundays/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/42254/are-religious-people-nicer-on-sundays/"},"headline":"Are Religious People Nicer on Sundays?","datePublished":"2014-03-30T04:01:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:53:54.025Z","description":"Are religious people nicer on Sundays? 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