Atheists may struggle to see anything positive about religion because unemotional logic rules their brains, a new study suggests.

Non-religious people are more likely to be analytical thinkers, researchers say, while those who are intensely religious will have a strong sense of morality.

They also found that decreasing empathy among non-religious participants in the study corresponded to increasing dogmatism.

It suggests militant atheists “may lack the insight to see anything positive about religion [as] they can only see that it contradicts their scientific, analytical thinking”.