HomeMy WebLinkAboutPamphlet: Why Religion Matters ac ro
`Heritage Poundatlort
No. 1064 The Heritage Foundation • 214 Massachusetts Avenue,N.E. • Washington,D.C. 20002-4999 • (202)546-4400 • http://www.heritage.org
The Cultural Policy Studies Project
January 25, 1996 •
WHY RELIGION MATTERS:
THE IMPACT OF RELIGIOUS
PRACTICE ON SOCIAL STABTT ,ITY
INTRODUCTION1
By extolling freedom of religion in the schools, President Bill Clinton has raised the
level of debate on the importance of religion to American life.2 The time is ripe for a
deeper dialogue on the contribution of religion to the welfare of the nation.
America has always been a religious country. "Its first Christian inhabitants were only
too anxious to explain what they were doing and why,"explains historian Paul Johnson. "In
a way the first American settlers were like the ancient Israelites.They saw themselves as ac-
tive agents of divine providence."'Today,he adds, "it is generally accepted that more than
half the American people still attend a place of worship over a weekend, an index of relig-
ious practice unequaled anywhere in the world,certainly in a great and populous nation."4
At the heart of religious practice is prayer: Americans pray even more than they go to
church. According to a composite of surveys, 94 percent of blacks, 91 percent of women,
87 percent of whites, and 85 percent of men regard themselves as people who pray regu-
larly. Some 78 percent pray at least once per week, and 57 percent pray daily. Even among
The author wishes to draw special attention to the major initial source of information on the research done on religion in the
social and medical sciences:David B.Larson and Susan S.Larson,"The Forgotten Factor in Physical and Mental Health:
What Does the Research Show?"(Rockville,Md.:National Institute for Healthcare Research, 1994).David Larson is one of
the premier researchers in the field and serves as president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research,as well as adjunct
faculty member at the Northwestern University and Duke University Medical Schools.
2 Office of the Press Secretary,The White House,"Remarks by the President on Religious Liberty in America at James Madison
High School,Vienna,Virginia,July 12, 1995."
3 Paul Johnson,"God and the Americans,"Commentary,January 1995,pp.25-45.
4 Ibid.
Note: Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt
to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress.
0
the 13 percent of the chart' a
population who call
themselves agnostics Percent of Population Who Pray Daily
or atheists, some 20
percent pray daily.5 94% pm
When policymakers 92
consider America's
grave social-problems, 90
including violent crime 88
and rising illegitimacy,
substance abuse, and 86
welfare dependency, 84
they should heed the �f
findings in the profes- 82
sional literature of the
80
social sciences on the N4-5 o� ��o
positive consequences \�
that flow from the prac-
Source: Kenneth L Woodward et at,'Talking to God,'Newsweek January 6 1992 pp 39ff
tice of religion.6
For example, there is ample evidence that:
✓ The strength of the family unit is intertwined with the practice of religion. Church-
goers are more likely to be married, less likely to be divorced or single, and more
likely to manifest high levels of satisfaction in marriage.
✓ Church attendance is the most important predictor of marital stability and happiness.
✓ The regular practice of religion helps poor persons move out of poverty. Regular
church attendance, for example, is particularly instrumental in helping young peo-
ple to escape the poverty of inner-city life.
✓ Religious belief and practice contribute substantially to the formation of personal
moral criteria and sound moral judgment.
✓ Regular religious practice generally inoculates individuals against a host of social
problems, including suicide, drug abuse, out-of-wedlock births, crime, and divorce.
✓ The regular practice of religion also encourages such beneficial effects on mental
health as less depression (a modern epidemic), more self-esteem, and greater family
and marital happiness.
5 Kenneth L.Woodward et al.,"Talking to God,"Newsweek,January 6, 1992,pp. 39ff.
6 Many studies cited herein are 10-20 years old.The need to go back so far reflects the paucity of serious research in the area of
religion relative to studies in the other four major institutions: family,education,the economy,and government. In the
author's opinion,it also reflects the tension between religion and the social sciences. See"Religion and the Social Sciences,"
infra.
7 Throughout this study,"church"and"churchgoer"are used in the generic sense to indicate church,synagogue,or any other
place of worship and an individual attending any such institution.
2
.y
,j
✓ In repairing damage caused by alcoholism, drug addiction, and marital breakdown,
religious belief and practice are a major source of strength and recovery.
✓ Regular practice of religion is good for personal physical health: It increases longev-
ity, improves one's chances of recovery from illness, and lessens the incidence of
many killer diseases.
The overall impact of religious practice is illustrated dramatically in thethree most com-
prehensive systematicreviews_of the.field.$__S.ome.81_percent of the studies showed the
positive benefit of religious practice, 15 percent showed neutral effects, and only 4 percent
showed harm.9 Each of these systematic reviews indicated more than 80 percent benefit,
and none indicated more than 10 percent harm. Even this 10 percent may be explained by
Ghart 2 1
Percent of U.S. Population That is Church-Affiliated
111111,
III!
lr E,.
40 ';
20 1 ' l'i i€
10 .- J ® r ® rtr ® i
r f f% Church Affiliated
� ti � �JI�.I �
`'�✓Al/�a r T��/ 1 1 1 '' ! ' :, i I"�' I Protestant
i v'`��✓� � -,J J:} 1 , Catholic
�+J lj
\q \°1h� \qb� q1� .fib q ����lLf✓aJt✓✓LJ I Other
lJ
\� q1 Cr �� LluvJewish
\ \ \°i \q� \q�1 qq0 �,b
\ Cr
Source: "Religion in America Supplement'95"The Gallup Poll,Princeton Religion Research Center, Princeton, NJ., 1 995.
8 For social scientists,a"systematic review"is one in which the robustness of the research method is weighted when assessing
the quality of the findings reported.Thus,systematic reviews are the most useful way to assess the scientific literature and
provide a valid guide to the findings in a particular field.
9 Jeff S.Levin and Harold Y.Vanderpool,"Is Frequent Religious Attendance Really Conducive to Better Health?:Towards an
Epidemiology of Religion,"Social Science Medicine,Vol.24(1987),pp.589-600;David B.Larson,Kim A. Sherrill,John S.
Lyons,Fred C.Craigie,S.B.Thielman,M.A.Greenwold,and Susan S.Larson,"Dimensions and Valences of Measures of
Religious Commitment Found in the American Journal of Psychiatry and the Archives of General Psychiatry: 1978 through
1989,"American Journal of Psychiatry,Vol. 149(1978),pp.557-559;Fred C.Craigie,Jr.,David B.Larson,and Ingrid Y.
Liu,"References to Religion in The Journal of.Family Practice:Dimensions and Valence of Spirituality,"The Journal of
Family Practice,Vol.30(1990),pp.477-480.
3
4
more recent social science insights into "healthy religious practice" and "unhealthy relig-
ious practice."10 This latter notion will be discussed later—it is seen generally by most
Americans of religious faith as a mispractice of religion. Unfortunately, the effects of un-
healthy religious practice are used to downplay the generally positive influence of relig-
ion.11 This both distorts the true nature of religious belief and practice and causes many
policymakers to ignore its positive social consequences.
Religious practice appears to have enormous potential for addressing today's social prob-
lems. As summarized in 1991 by Allen Bergin, professor of psychology at Brigham Youn
University, considerable evidence indicates thattreligious mvolvement_redaces "such_ rob-
dems_assexual pernussiveness;teen pregnancy, suicide,dru ause,-alcoholism, a
sore-extent deviant and delinquent.acts;^and increases self esteem,family_coFesiven ss a dr
energy ell=bein religious "~---------�'
g g....Some reli ious influences have a modest impact whereas another por-
tion seem like the mental equivalent of nuclear energy....More generally, social scientists
are discovering the continuing power of religion to protect the family from the forces that
would tear it down."
Professor Bergin's summary was echoed two years later by nationally syndicated colum-
nist William Raspberry: "Almost every commentator on the current scene bemoans the in-
crease of violence, lowered ethical standards and loss of civility that mark American soci-
ety. Is the decline of religious influence part of what is happening to us? Is it not just possi-
ble that anti-religious bias masquerading as religious neutrality is costing more than we
have been willing to acknowledge?"13 Other reviews 14 also list the positive effects of relig-
ious belief and practice in reducing such problems as suicide, substance abuse, divorce,and
marital dissatisfaction. Such evidence indicates clearly that religious practice contributes
significantly to the quality of American life.
Given this evidence,
@Corrgressshould:
' Begin a new national debate to help renew the role of religion in American life;
• Ask the General Accounting Office (GAO) to review the evidence on the beneficial
effects of religious practice in the relevant social science literature and report its find-
ings to a national commission formed to promote the consideration of religious prac-
tice among U.S. citizens;
Fund federal experiments with school choice that include religiously affiliated
schools;
10 See"Religion and the Social Sciences,"infra,on the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic religious practice.
11 Thomas Skill,James D.Robinson,John S.Lyons,and David Larson,"The Portrayal of Religion and Spirituality on Fictional
Network Television,"Review of Religious Research,Vol.35,No. 3(March 1994),pp.251-267.
12 Allen E.Bergin,"Values and Religious Issues in Psychotherapy and Mental Health,"The American Psychologist,Vol.46
(1991),pp. 394-403,esp.p.401.Professor Bergin received the American Psychological Association's top award in 1990.
13 William Raspberry: "Christmas Without Meaning?Must the Religious Make a Secret of Their Beliefs?"The Washington Post,
December 24, 1993,p.A15.
14 David B.Larson,Susan S.Larson,and John Gartner,"Families,Relationships and Health,"in Behavior and Medicine,ed.
Danny Wedding(Baltimore:Mosby Year Book Inc., 1990),pp. 135-147.
4
nr Pass a sense-of-the-Congress resolution that data on religious practice are useful for
policymakers and researchers as part of the public policy debate; and
▪ Mandate a census question on religious practice. It violates nobody's freedom of re-
ligion for Congress to know the level and intensity of religious practice in America.
The President should:
▪ Appoint judges who are more sensitive to the role of religion in public life, with the
Senate ensuring that such is the case by ascertaining the stand of judges on matters
of religion and its relationship to the Constitution;
icW Direct the Bureau of the Census to record levels of religious practice in the census
for the year 2000 (time is running out for preparation of the census questionnaire);
and
ta' Issue a directive to all federal agencies making clear that cooperation between gov-
ernment entities and the social, medical, and educational services of faith-based or-
ganizations does not violate separation of church and state.
The U.S. Supreme Court should:
la' Review the decisions in which it has changed the laws of the land by changing com-
monly held beliefs regarding the Constitution and religion and send to Congress
those that should have been the object of legislative action rather than judicial reinter-
pretation.
America's religious leaders should:
' Be much more assertive in emphasizing the contribution of religion to the health of
the nation and in resisting efforts to minimize religion in public discourse;
I Make clear to their congregations that they are contributing not only to their own
welfare,but also to the well-being of the nation by their regular attendance at relig-
ious worship;
Take special care of the religious formation of children, especially during the transi-
tion period from childhood to adolescence, when they are most likely to lose their re-
ligious faith;
Ler Recognize that the church in the inner city, especially the black church, has a vital
role to play in helping its people escape from the degrading culture of inner-city pov-
erty; and
I Encourage education leaders, social scientists, and social policy practitioners to rely
more on religious belief and worship to achieve social policy and social work goals.
5
4
RELIGION AND HAPPINESS
Ever since Aristotle outlined the goal of a sound civil order in his Politics,15 social and
political scientists and social psychologists have been particularly interested in what makes
human beings happy. Happy people tend to be productive and law-abiding.They learn well,
make good citizens, a; rt 3 `
and are invariably
pleasant company.It
turns out that kthel Church Attendance Rate for Selected Years
pr;acticeoff re igionT 50%
has a.signficant-eft 45 -
tect~oii appiness.
and an coverall sense 35 - Attended Church in Last Week
tof personaWeVbe
30 -
ing;Religious affili- 25 -
ation and regular 20 -
church attendance
15 -
are near the top of lo -
the list for most peo 5 -
ple in explaining , ,
their own haPPi` \ch hQ \chh° q�h \et q`°1 \°'1~ q�` °'�h q�� qhQ \ch \o,
ness and serve as
good predictors of Source: 'Religion in America Siupplement'95'The Gallup Poll,Princeton Religion Research Center,Princeton NJ.
who is most likely
to have this sense of well-being.17tHappines 5§' to ar nd_y ti itogic'al stress`is 1c we-
Lfor those„who.attend religious services regularly_,) Those pursuing a personal relationship
with God tend to have improved relationships with themselves and with others.19
A large epidemiological study conducted by the University of California at Berkeley in
1971 found that the religiously committed had much less psychological distress than the un-
committed.20 Rodney Stark, now of the University of Washington, found the same in a
1970 study:The higher the level of religious attendance, the less stress suffered when adver-
sity had to be endured.21 Similarly, in a longitudinal study of 720 adults conducted by
15 The Politics of Aristotle,trans.Ernest Barker(New York:Oxford.University Press, 1958),Book VIII,"Political Ideal and
Educational Principles,"Chapters 1,2,and 3,"The Highest Goal,"pp.279-289.
16 B.Beit-Hallami,"Psychology of Religion 1880-1939:The Rise and Fall of a Psychological Movement,"Journal of the
History of the Behavioral Sciences,Vol. 10(1974),pp. 84-90.
17 Harsha N.Mookherjee,"Effects of Religiosity and Selected Variables on the Perception of Well-Being,"The Journal of
Social Psychology,Vol. 134,No. 3(June 1994),pp.403-405,reporting on a national sample General Social Survey of 1,481
adults aged 18-89.
18 Larson and Larson,"The Forgotten Factor in Physical and Mental Health,"p.76.
19 David O.Moberg,"The Development of Social Indicators of Spiritual Well-Being for Quality of Life Research,"in Spiritual
Well-Being:Sociological Perspectives,ed.David O.Moberg(Washington,D.C.:University Press of America, 1979).
20 Rodney Stark: "Psychopathology and Religious Commitment,"Review of Religious Research,Vol. 12(1971),pp. 165-176.
21 R.W.Williams,D.B.Larson,R.E. Buckler,R.C. Heckman,and C.M.Pyle,"Religion and Psychological Distress in a
Community Sample,"Social Science Medicine,Vol. 32(1991),pp. 1257-1262.
6
David Williams of the University of Michigan, regular religious attendance led to much
less psychological distress.22
In 1991, David Larson, adjunct professor at the Northwestern and Duke University
Schools of Medicine and president of the National Institute of Healthcare Research, com-
pleted a systematic review of studies on.religious commitment and personal well-being. He
found that the relationship is powerful and positive; overall, psychological functioning im-
proved following a resumption of participation in religious worship for those who had
stopped.23
RELIGION AND FAMILY STABILITY
There is a growing consensus that America needs to pursue policies aimed at re-strength-
ening the family.The beneficial effects of religious worship on family stability clearly indi-
cate one way to help accomplish this. Professors Darwin L.Thomas and Gwendolyn C.
Henry of Brigham Young University's Department of Sociology sum up earlier research 24
on the quest by young people for meaning and love: "Research on love clearly indicates
that for many, love in the social realm cannot clearly be separated from love that contains a
vertical or a divine element....Young people see love as the central aspect of the meaning
of life; they believe that religion is still important in helping form judgments and atti-
tudes."25 Their conclusion: "Family and religious institutions need to be studied simultane-
ously in our efforts to understand the human condition better."
"Middletown," one of the century's classic sociological research projects, studied the
lives of inhabitants of a typical American town, first in the 1920s and for the third time in
the 1980s. Based on the latest round of follow-up research,Howard Bahr and Bruce Chad-
wick,professors of sociology at Brigham Young University, concluded in 1985 that "There
is a relationship between family solidarity—family health if you will—and church affili-
ation and activity. Middletown [ehurchgoingtmembers were more likely to be married,re
roam roamed and to.be lughly7sattsfied'wtth the2r marriages andao have more childie....
l heugreat d vide between marriage status, niarnage`satisfaction-and-familyy-size is--
tween4thoseAi 'identify with aachilith-or denomination.and-those who3o f ot:'27
Four years later, Professor Arland Thornton of the Institute for Social Research at the
University of Michigan likewise concluded from a Detroit study of the same relationship
that "These data indicate strong intergenerational transmission of religious involvement. At-
tendance at religious services is also very stable within generations across time."28
22 Ibid.
23 David B.Larson and Susan S.Larson,"Does Religious Commitment Make a Clinical Difference in Health?"Second Opinion,
Vol. 17(July 1991),pp. 26-40.
24 William V.D'Antonio: "The Family and Religion:Exploring a Changing Relationship,"Journal for the Scientific Study of
Religion," Vol. 19(1980),pp. 89-104.
25 Darwin L.Thomas and Gwendolyn C.Henry,"The Religion and Family Connection:Increasing Dialogue in the Social
Sciences,"Journal of Marriage and the Family,Vol.47(May 1985),pp.369-370.
26 Ibid.
27 Howard M.Bahr and Bruce A.Chadwick,"Religion and Family in Middletown,USA,"Journal of Marriage and the Family,
Vol.47(May 1985),pp.407-414.
7
"With striking consistency, the most religious among us [as Americans] place a greater
importance on the full range of family and friendship activities," concluded a Connecticut
Mutual Life report in 1982.29 A group of Kansas State University professors reached the
same conclusion: "Family commitment is indeed a high priority in many American families
m
and it is frequently accompanied by a concomitant factor of religious comitment."30 In
yet another study conducted during the 1970s and 1980s, professors Nick Stinnet of the
University of Alabama and John DeFrain of the University of Nebraska sought to identify
family strengths. From their nationwide surveys of strong families, they found that 84 per-
cent identified religion as an important contributor to the strength of their families.31 It
should be noted that the same pattern appears to hold for African-American families: Par-
ents who attended church frequently cited the significance of religion in rearing their chil-
dren and in providing moral guidelines.32
Marital Satisfaction. Couples with long-lasting marriages indicate that the practice of re-
- - --.ligion is,.an important factor in marital happiness [Indeed David Larsons syste am tic re-s
• �x -�- �
vaews indicate.that=churchkattendance`is the most,important predictor_of marit l-stability]
Others have found the same result.34 Twenty years ago it was first noted that very religious
women achieve greater satisfaction in sexual intercourse with their husbands than do mo_der-
ately religious or non religious women The Sex iri A_,lm erica study pubhs`hed in 1995 nd
conducted by=sociolo'gtsts£rom4he' hike-rsit ofrCliicago_andAhe State University'-ofN,
York at Ston. brook, also showedsvery high sexual satisfaction among_"conservative""reTig
uwoment. From the standpoint of contemporary American media culture, this may ap-
pear strange or counter-intuitive, but the empirical evidence is consistent.
Divorce and Cohabitation. Regular church attendance is the critical factor in marital
stability across denominations and overrides effects of doctrinal teaching on divorce. For in-
stance, black Protestants and white Catholics, who share similarly high church attendance
rates, have been shown to have similarly low divorce rates.37 Furthermore, when marital
separation occurs, reconciliation rates are higher among regular church attendees, and high-
` est when both spouses have the same high level of church attendance.38 Findings on the
28 Arldnd Thornton and Donald Camburn,"Religious Participation and Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Attitudes,"Journal of
Marriage and the Family,Vol.51 (August 1989),pp. 641-653.
29 Research and.Forecasts Inc., The Connecticut Mutual Life Report on American Values in the 1980's(Hartford:Connecticut
Mutual Life Insurance Co., 1981).
30 C.E. Kennedy,Janet Cleveland,and Walter Schumm,"Family Commitment and Religious Commitment: Parallel Processes,"
(Manhattan, Kan.: Department of Family and Child Development, Kansas State University, 1983).
31 Nick Stinnet,G. Saunders,John DeFrain,and A.Parkhurst. "A Nationwide Study of Families Who Perceive Themselves as
Strong,"Family Perspectives,Vol. 16(1982),pp. 15-22.
32 Velma McBride Murry,"Incidence of First Pregnancy Among Black Adolescent Females Over Three Decades," Youth &
Society,Vol. 23,No.4(June 1992),pp:478-506,esp.p.483.
33 Larson,Larson,and Gartner,"Families,Relationships and Health."
34 See,for example,G.Burchinal,"Marital Satisfaction and Religious Behavior,"American Sociological Review,Vol.22
(January 1957),pp. 306-310.
35 C.Tavris and S. Sadd, The Redbook Report on Female Sexuality(New York: Delacorte Press, 1977).
36 Robert T.Michael,John H.Gagnon,Edward O.Laumann,and Gina Kolata,Sex in America:A Definitive Survey(Boston:
Little Brown 1995),Chapter 6.
37 Wesley Shrum,"Religion and Marital Instability:Change in the 1970s?"Review of Religious Research,Vol. 21 (1980),pp.
135-147.
8
other end of the marital spectrum reinforce the point: ,1°,993 nati nal survey of 3,300`me
imdtigoend s;3. 9 39-foudthaf lio-S t o wichptriers moS1-af those�wi enotrelrgaS c 01-
Significantly,cohabitation before marriage poses°ashig sk to=later=mart 1 stabilityi,4o
z-� - - - y--=7- -
and-premarital cohabitation is^rriuch less common.among,tehgious Amerwaris "The cohabi-
tation rate is seven times higher among persons who seldom or never attend religious serv-
ices compared to persons who frequently attend," writes David Larson of the National Insti-
tute of HealthcareResearch. "Women who-attended-religious services once a week were
only one-third as likely to cohabit as those who attended church services less than once a
month." Furthermore, s`If the mothei frequently attended religious services, both sons and
daughtersl,were only 50: ercenras,likely.to cohabit as�adult chi dren�w�hbse=mothers-were?
it oract yely rehgious�"41 Rockford Institute President Allan Carlson summarizes the pat-
tern: "Social scientists are discovering the continuing power of religion to protect the fam-
ily from the forces that would tear it down."42
The fact is that too many social scientists have failed to appreciate the significance of re-
search on the relationship between family and religion. As another researcher of the same
period concludes, "We may have underestimated this `silent majority' and it is only fair to
give them equal time."43 The centrality of stable married family life in avoiding such prob-
lems as crime,44 illegitimacy,45 and welfare46 has become indisputable If such alstable_
family-hhfe is=:linked closely tora1hvely religious hfe<asithese studies mdicate,,then.the peace
and_happines s�`'of the nation depend sign leantly^on,a.renwaltof ehgious..practice=and_het
het)
RELIGION AND PHYSICAL HEALTH
In public health circles, the level of educational attainment is held to be the key demo-
graphic predictor of physical health. For over two decades, however, the level of religious
practice has been shown convincingly to be equally important.
38 David B.Larson: "Religious Involvement,"in Family Building,ed.G.E.Rekers(Ventura,Cal.: Regal, 1985),pp. 121-147.
39 J. 0.Billy,K.Tanfer,W.R.Grady,and D.H. Klepinger,"The Sexual Behavior of Men in the United States,"Family
Planning Perspectives,Vol.25 (1993),pp.52-60.
40 Larry L.Bumpass,James A. Sweet,and Andrew Cherlin,"The Role of Cohabitation in Declining Rates of Marriage,"NSFH
Working Paper No.5,Center for Demography and Ecology,University of Wisconsin, 1989.
41 National Institute of Healthcare Research May 1993 summary of: A.Thorton,W.Axxinn,and D.Hill,"Reciprocal Effects of
Religiosity,Cohabitation,and Marriage,"American Journal of Sociology,Vol.98(1992),pp.628-651.
42 Allan C.Carlson,"Religion and the Family:The Troubled and.Enduring Bond,"The Family in America,Vol. 2(January
1988),p.7.
43 B. Schlesinger,"Functioning Families:Focus of the 1980s,"Family Perspectives,Vol. 16(1982),pp. 111-116.
44 Patrick F.Fagan,"The Real Root Causes of Crime:The Breakdown of Marriage,Family,and Community,"Heritage
Foundation Backgrounder No. 1026,March 17, 1995.
45 Patrick F.Fagan,"Rising Illegitimacy:America's Social Catastrophe,"Heritage Foundation F.Y.I. No. 19,June 1994.
46 Robert Rector,"Combating Family Disintegration,Crime,and Dependence:Welfare Reform and Beyond,"Heritage
Foundation Backgrounder No.983,April 1994.
9
As earlyFas 1972 resew el ers4frorn theJohns Hopkins zUnivegity School of b Health
foumi that cardiovascular diseases,4.the leading kiile of lde peo ilej;Were.zreduced;sigl
c aptly,in early_old':a ebpaylifetime,ofre gularehuch=attendance. By contrast, non-atten-
dees'hadhigher mortality rates for such other diseases as cirrhosis of the liver, emphysema,
and arteriosclerosis, in addition to other cardiovascular diseases and even suicide. Re-
search on mortality patterns amon the poor confirmed a decade later that those who went
to churc 9regularly lived longer.4 Since then, other studies have reinforced this general
finding.
Blood pressure, a key factor in cardiovascular health, is reduced significantly by regular
church attendance, on average by 5mm of pressure.50 Given that reducing blood pressure
by 2 to 4 mm also reduces the mortality rate by 10 to 20 percent for any given popula-
tion,51 a reduction of 5 mm is a very significant public health achievement by any standard.
For those over 55 years of age, the average decrease was 6 mm. Among those who smoked
—a practice that increases blood pressure—regular church attendance decreased the risk of
early stroke by 700 percent.52
Nor are the health benefits of religious commitment confined to the cardiovascular sys-
tem. In 1987, a major review of 250 epidemiological health research studies—studies
which examined the relationship between health and religion and measured such additional
outcomes as colitis, cancers of many different types, and longevity measures—concluded
that, in general, religious commitment improves health.53 A 1991 study of two national
samples 34 also concluded that the degree to which people prayed and participated in relig-
ious services significantly affected their health status, regardless of age.55
. In what must be one of the most unusual experiments in medical history,Dr. Robert B.
Byrd, a cardiologist then at the University of California at San Francisco Medical School,
conducted a random-sample, double-blind study of the effects of prayer—not by the pa-
tients but for the patients—on the outcome of cardiac surgery.The study was published in
1982. None of the patients knew they were being prayed for, none of the attending doctors
47 George W.Comstock and Kay B.Partridge,"Church.Attendance and Health,"Journal of Chronic Disease,Vol. 25 (1972),pp.
665-672.
48 D.M.Zuckerman,S.V. Kasl,and A.M.Osterfield,"Psychosocial Predictors of Mortality Among the Elderly Poor,"American
Journal of Epidemiology,Vol. 119(1984),pp.410-423.
49 For instance,J. S.House,C.Robins,and H.L.Metzner,"The Association of Social Relationships and Activities with
Mortality: Prospective Evidence from the Tecumseh Community Health Study,"American Journal of Epidemiology,Vol. 114
(1984),p. 129.
50 David B.Larson,H.G. Koenig,B.H.Kaplan,R.S.Greenberg,E.Logue,and H.A.Tyroler,"The Impact of Religion on
Men's Blood Pressure,"Journal of Religion and Health,Vol.28(1989),pp.265-278.
51 W.T.Maramot,"Diet,Hypertension and Stroke,"in Nutrition and Health,ed.M.R.Turner(New York:Alan R.Liss, 1982),
p. 243.
52 Ibid.
53 J. S.Levin and P.L.Schiller,"Is There a Religious Factor in Health?"Journal of Religion and Health,Vol. 26(1987),pp.
9-35.
54 The 1984 and 1987 General Social Surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center, which included questions on
religious commitment and health.
55 K.F.Ferraro and C.M.Albrecht-Jensen,"Does Religion Influence.Adult Health?"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,
Vol. 30(1991),pp. 193-202.
10
and nurses knew who was being prayed for and who was not, and those praying had no per-
sonal contact with the patients before or during the experiment. Outcomes for the two sets
of patients differed significantly:Those prayed for had noticeably fewer post-operative con-
gestive heart failures, fewer cardiopulmonary arrests, less pneumonia, and less need for anti-
biotics.56 To date, this study has not been replicated, though the intriguing results challenge
the academic and medical community to verify or disprove them.
RELIGION AND SOCIAL.BREAKDOWN
The practice of religion has beneficial effects on behavior and social relations: on illegiti-
macy, crime and delinquency, welfare dependency, alcohol and drug abuse, suicide, depres-
sion, and general self-esteem.
Illegitimacy. One of the most powerful of all factors in preventing out-of-wedlock births
is the regularpractice of religious belief. Given the growing crisis in out-of-wedlock births,
their effects, and the huge social and economic costs to national and state budgets, this
should be of major interest to policymakers.
It has long been known that intensity of religious practice is closely related to adolescent
virginity and sexual restraint and control.This general finding, replicated again and again,58
also holds true specifically for black teenage girls,59 the group with the highest teen preg-
nancy rates among all demographic subgroups.60 Reviews of the literature demonstrate
that, nearly without exception,religious practice sharply reduces the incidence of premari-
tal intercourse.61 The reverse is also true:The absence of religious practice acco 6anies
sexual permissiveness and premarital sex.This is confirmed in numerous studies, includ-
ing a 1991 analysis of the federal government's National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.63
56 R.B.Byrd,"Positive Therapeutic Effects of Intercessory Prayer in a Coronary Care Unit Population,"Southern Medical
Journal,Vol. 75 (1982),pp. 1166-1168.
57 Fagan,"Rising Illegitimacy: America's Social Catastrophe,"and U.S.Department of Health and Human Services,Report to
Congress on Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing,September 1995,esp.chapter on"The Consequences of Nonmarital Childbearing
for Women,Children and Society"by Sarah McLanahan.
58 Louis Harris and Associates,Inc.,American Teens Speak:Sex,Myths,TV, and Birth Control,Planned Parenthood Federation
of America,Inc., 1986;Thornton and Camburn,"Religious Participation and Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Attitudes."
59 Murry,"Incidence of First Pregnancy Among Black Adolescent Females Over Three Decades."
60 Monthly Vital Statistics Report,Vol.44,No. 3(September 21, 1995),DHHSICDC/NCHS,Table 15.
61 Bernard Spilka,Ralph W. Hood,and Richard.L.Gorsuch, The.Psychology of Religion:An Empirical Approach(Englewood
Cliffs,N.J.:Prentice Hall, 1985);Cheryl D.Hayes,ed.,"Risking the Future:Adolescent Sexuality,Pregnancy and
Childbearing,"Vol. 1 (Washington,D.C.:National Academic Press, 1987);Michael J.Donahue,"Aggregate Religiousness
and Teenage Fertility Revisited:Reanalyses of Data from the Guttmacher Institute,"paper presented at Society for the
Scientific Study of Religion,Chicago,Illinois,October 1988;Catherine S.Chilman,"Adolescent Sexuality in a Changing
American Society: Social and Psychological Perspectives,"NIH Publication No. 80-1426(Washington,D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office, 1980).
62 The following studies are cited in Scott H.Beck,Bettie S.Cole,and Judith A.Hammond,"Religious Heritage and Premarital
Sex:Evidence from a National Sample of Young Adults,"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,Vol. 30,No.2(1991),
pp. 173-180: H.T.Christensen and L.B.Johnson,`Premarital Coitus and the Southern Black:A Comparative View,"Journal
of Marriage and the Family,Vol.40(1978),pp.721-731;Stephen R.Jorgensen and Janet S. Sonstegard,"Predicting
Adolescent,Sexual and Contraceptive Behavior: An Application and Test of the Fishbein Model,"Journal of Marriage and the
Family,Vol.46(1984),pp.43-55;F.L.Mott,"The Patterning of Female Teenage Sexual Behaviors and Attitudes,"paper
11
The impact of religious practice on teenage sexual behavior also can be seen at the state
level: States with higher levels of aggregate religiousness have lower rates of teenage preg-
nancy.
In an important study published in 1987, a group of professors from the Universities of
Georgia, Utah, and Wyoming found that the main cause of problematic adolescent sexual
behaviors and attitudes is not only family dynamics and processes, as previously thought,
but the absence of religious behavior and affiliation.They further concluded that healthy
family dynamics and practices are themselves aused to a powerful degree by the presence
or absence of religious beliefs and practices.65 c The same results also hold true in interna-
tional comparisons.66
As with drugs, alcohol, and crime, the religious behavior of the mother is one of the
strongest predictors of the daughter's sexual attitudes.67 It also has long been known in the
social sciences that daughters of single mothers are more likely to engage in premarital sex-
ual behavior during adolescence.68 These mothers are more frequently permissive in their
sexual attitudes, and religion for them has less importance than it has for mothers in two-
parent families.69 These findings also have been replicated.70
The religious practices of parents, particularly their unity on religious issues, powerfully
influence the behavior of children.Thus, for policymakers interested in reducing teenage
(and older) out-of-wedlock births, the lesson is clear: Religious belief and regular worship
reduce the likelihood of this form of family breakdown. One faith-based sex education
course that included both mothers and daughters, for example, was aimed specifically at re-
ducing the teenage pregnancy rate.The results were notably successful: Out-of-wedlock
births among the at-risk population were almost eliminated.71
presented at 1983 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association,Dallas,Texas,November 1983;and J.M.
Studer and A.Thornton,"Adolescent Religiosity and Contraceptive Usage,"Journal of Marriage and the Family,Vol.47
(1985),pp. 381-395.
63 Beck et al.,"Religious Heritage and Premarital Sex:Evidence from a National Sample of Young Adults."
64 Donahue,"Aggregate Religiousness and Teenage Fertility Revisited:Reanalyses of Data from the Guttmacher Institute."
65 Brent C.Miller,Robert Higginson,J.Kelly McCoy,and Terrance D.Olson,"Family Configuration and Adolescent Sexual
Attitudes and Behavior,"Population and Environment,Vol.9(1987),.pp. 111-123.
66 Elise F.Jones et al.,"Teenage Pregnancy in Developed Countries:Determinants and Policy Implications,"Family Planning
Perspectives,Vol. 17,No. 2(March/April 1985),pp.53-61
67 Arland D.Thorton,"Family and Institutional Factors in Adolescent Sexuality,"found in HHS/Public Health Service,
"Summaries of Completed Adolescent Family Life Research Projects on Adolescent Sexual Behavior,"a 1991 internal staff
summary of HHS-funded research projects.
68 See,for example,Brian C.Martinson and Larry L.Bumpass,"The Impact of Family Background on Premarital Births among
Women under 30 in the United States,"NSFH Working Paper No.9,Center for Demography and Ecology,University of
Wisconsin,April 1990.
69 S.Newcomer and J. R. Undry,"Parental Marital Status Effects on Adolescent Sexual Behavior,"Journal of Marriage and the
Family,Vol.49(1987),pp.235-240.
70 For example,Thornton and Camburn,"Religious Participation and Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Attitudes."
71 This study,"Fertility Appreciation for.Families,"involved a matched control design.Unpublished but peer reviewed,it is
available from Family of the Americas,P.O.Box 1170,Dunkirk,Maryland 20754.
12
Crime and Delinquency. A review of the small amount of research done on the relation-
ship between crime and religion shows th72states with more religious populations tend to
have fewer homicides and fewer suicides.
A four-year longitudinal, stratified, random-sample study of high school students in the
Rocky Mountain region, published in 1975, demonstrated that religious involvement signifi-
cant decreased drug use, delinquency, and premarital sex, and also increased self-con-
trol. A 1989 study of midwestern high school students replicated these findings.74 Simi-
larly, young religious adults in Canada were found in a 1979 study to be less likely to use
or sell narcotics, to gamble, or to destroy property.75
What is true for youth is also true for adults.76 Reli,ous behavior, as opposed to mere at-
titude or affiliation, is associated wiN reduced crime. This has been known in the social
science literature for over 20 years.
In research conducted in the late 1980s—controlling for family, economic, and religious
backgrounds—a research team from the University of Nevada found that black men who
eventually ended up in prison and those who did not came respectively from two different
groups: those who did not go to church, or stopped going around ten years of age, and those
who went regularly.79 This failure of faith at the onset of adolescence parallels the pattern
found among those who become alcoholics or drug addicts. Clearly, the family's inability
to inspire regular religious worship among emerging young adults is a sign of internal weak-
ness.
Welfare Dependency. In his classic study The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capital-
ism, Max Weber, the preeminent German sociologist of the first half of the 20th century,
demonstrated the connection between religious practice and financial well-being among
Protestants. Other work on the same theme shows that this is not confined to Protestants,
but that it applies across a longer period of history and across denominational lines.
This link between religion and prosperity has important implications for the poor. In
1985, forinstance, Richard B. Freeman of the National Bureau of Economic Research re-
ported that:.
72 David Lester,"Religiosity and Personal Violence: A Regional Analysis of Suicide and Homicide Rates,"The Journal of
Social Psychology,Vol. 127,No.6(December 1987),pp.685-686.
73 John Rohrbaugh and Richard Jessor,Institute of Behavioral Science,University of Colorado,"Religiosity in Youth: A
Personal Control Against Deviant Behavior,"Journal of Personality,Vol.43,No. 1 (1975),pp. 136-155.
74 John K.Cochran,"Another Look at.Delinquency and Religiosity,"Sociological Spectrum,Vol.9,No.2(1989),pp. 147-162.
75 Avtar Singh,"Note: Religious Involvement and Anti-Social Behavior,"Perceptual and Motor Skills,Vol.48(1979),pp.
1157-1158.
76 For instance,see Lee Ellis,"Religiosity and Criminality from the Perspective of Arousal Theory,"Journal of Research in
Crime and Delinquency,Vol.24,No. 3 (August 1987),pp.215-232.
77 John Gartner,David B.Larson,and George Allen,"Religious Commitment and Mental Health:A Review of the Empirical
Literature,"Journal of Psychology and Theology,Vol. 19(1991),pp.6-25.
78 Beit-Hallami,"Psychology of Religion 1880-1939,"pp. 84-90.
79 Naida M. Parson and James K.Mikawa,"Incarceration and Nonincarceration of African-American Men Raised in Black
Christian Churches,"The Journal of Psychology,Vol. 125 (1990),pp. 163-173.
13
[Church attendance] is associated with substantial differences in the
behavior of[black male youths from poverty-stricken inner-city
neighborhoods] and thus in their chances to "escape" from inner city
poverty. It affects allocation of time, school-going, work activity and
the frequency of socially deviant activity....It is important to recognize
that our analysis has identified an important set of variables that
separate successful from unsuccessful young persons in the inner city.
There is a significant number of inner city youth, readily identifiable,
who succeed in escaping that pathology of inner-city slum life.80
Ongoing studies by Professor Ranald Jarrell of the Department of Education at Arizona
State University West show the power of religious belief and practice in encouraging a
spirit of optimism among socially at-risk but advancing children.The subjects are students
at the De La Salle Academy, an independent school in the upper west side of Manhattan
serving primarily poor inner-city black and Hispanic middle school children who show sub-
stantial academic promise.Within this group, the highest concentration of pessimists is
found among students with the lowest attendance at church.Those who attend church
weekly or more frequently, on the other hand,exhibit the following profiles:
✓ They are more optimistic about their futures;
✓ They have better relationships with their parents;
✓ They are more likely to dismiss racism as an obstacle to reaching their goals;
✓ They are more likely to have serious and realistic goals for their futures;
✓ They are more likely to see the world as a friendly place in which they can achieve,
rather than as a hostile world with powerful forces arrayed against them; and
✓ They are more likely to see themselves as in control of their own futures, whereas
those who do not attend church are more likely to see themselves as victims of op-
pression.81
Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), the best national sample
for tracking the development of America's youth from the late 1970s, clearly indicate the
difference regular religious practice makes for those who grew up in poverty in the 1970s
and 1980s. Among those who attended church weekly in both 1979 and 1982, average fam-
ily income in 1993 was $37,021; among those who never attended church in 1979 or 1982,
however, average family income in 1993 was $24,361— a difference of$12,660.82
Other studies also show that r3 owing up in an intact family correlates significantly and
positively with future earnings However, the NLSY data show that regular religious prac-
tice benefits both those who grow up in intact families and those who grow up in broken
80 Richard B.Freeman,"Who Escapes?The Relation of Church-Going and Other Background Factors to the Socio-Economic
Performance of Black Male Youths from Inner-City Poverty Tracts,"Working Paper Series No. 1656,National Bureau of
Economic Research,Inc.,Cambridge,Massachusetts, 1985.
81 Ranald Jarrell,Department of Education,Arizona State University West,personal communication,October 1995.
82 Analysis of NLSY data by Heritage Foundation analyst Christine Olson.
83 Fagan,"Rising Illegitimacy:America's Social Catastrophe,"p.5.
14
families.The other differences remain, but the positive impact of religion on both groups is
evident.84
Alcohol and Drug Abuse. The relationship between religious practice and the moderate
use or avoidance of alcohol is well documented,85 regardless of whether denominational be-
liefs prohibit the use
of alcohol.86 Accord-
ing to general stud- Family Income and Church Attendance
ies, the higher the
level of religious in- $60,000 Net Family Income in 1993
volvement, the less Church Attendance
MI Never in'79 and'82
likely the use or 50,000- - - Weekly in 79 and'82
abuse of alcohol.87
40,000 _ _
Persons who
abuse alcohol rarely 30,000- - -
have a strong relig-
ious commitment. 20,000
In their study of the
development of alco- 10,000
hol abuse, David Lar-.i
son and William P.
Wilson,professors Broken Family Intact Family
of psychiatry at Note: Family Income figures are-means,cases weighted by WEIGHT93.
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.1993
Northwestern Uni-
versity School of Medicine, found that nine out of ten alcoholics had lost interest in religion
in their teenage years, in sharp contrast to teenagers generally, among whom interest in re-
ligion increased by almost 50 percent and declined by only 14 percent.89 Robert Coombs
and his colleagues at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine found
that alcohol abuse is 300 percent higher among those who do not attend church.
84 Given the significance of these findings,which are now over 10 years old,it is telling that no further research seems to have
been conducted along these lines by the welfare interest group in academia. In the business field,there is considerable
anecdotal literature of the,testimonial genre which recounts the effect of religious belief or conversion on work capacity and
outcomes;in the academic literature,however,there seems to be little or none.See"Religion and the Social Sciences,"infra.
85 Achaempong Yaw Amoateng and Stephen J.Bahr,"Religion,Family,and Adolescent Drug Use,"Sociological Perspectives,
Vol.29(1986),pp.53-73,and John K.Cochran,Leonard Beghley,and E.Wilbur Block,"Religiosity and Alcohol Behavior:
An Exploration of Reference Group Therapy,"Sociological Forum,Vol.3(1988),pp.256-276.
86 Amoateng and Bahr,"Religion,Family,and Adolescent Drug Use."
87 Gartner,Larson,and Allen,"Religious Commitment and Mental Health: A Review of the Empirical Literature";Steven R.
Burkett and Mervin White,"Hellfire and Delinquency: Another Look,"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,Vol. 13
(1974),pp.455-462;Deborah Hasin,Jean Endicott,and Collins Lewis,"Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Patients with Affective
Syndromes,"Comprehensive Psychiatry,Vol.26(1985),pp.283-295.
88 David B.Larson and William P.Wilson: "Religious Life of Alcoholics,"Southern Medical Journal,Vol. 73 (1980),pp.
723-727.
89 Ibid.
90 Robert H.Coombs,David K.Wellisch,and Fawzy I.Fawzy,"Drinking Patterns and Problems among Female Children and
Adolescents:A Comparison of Abstainers,Past Users and Current Users,"American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse,Vol.
11 (1985),pp. 315-348.
•
15
Drug and alcohol use is lowest in the most conservative religious denominations and
highest in non-religious groups, while liberal church groups have use rates just slightly
lower than those for non-religious
91groups. But for all groups, religious commitment corre-
lates with absence of drug abuse.
Significantly, involvement in any religious denomination or group generally decreases
the level of drug use regardless of whether the denomination teaches against the use of alco-
hol, although denominations that teach against any use of drugs or alcohol exhibit the high-
est rates of drug avoidance. Among-traditional American religions,Mormons have the high-
est denominational association between religious doctrine and drug avoidance; they also
have the most restrictive proscriptions against drug use. On the other hand, Roman Catho-
lics have the highest alcohol use rate; their religion condemns the abuse of alcohol but does
not proscribe its use.92
Attendance at church and related religious activities has special significance for drug use
among teenagers. In a 1985 study of young girls aged between 9 and 17, less than 10 per-
cent of those who reported attending religious services weekly or more often indicated any
drug or alcohol use, compared with 38 percent of all those studied.93
The parental attitude to religion also is important in dealing with alcohol use. A 1985
study indicated that if the mother and father have deep, competing differences toward relig-
ious belief and practice, their children are more likely to use or abuse alcohol than are chil-
dren whose parents do not differ on matters of religion. Conversely, if their parents' relig-
ious beliefs and practices are similar, children are far more likely to abstain from alcohol or
to drink with moderation.94 Almost three decades before these findings, Orville Walters,
then a research fellow at the Menninger School of Psychiatry in Topeka, Kansas, found that
alcoholics who came from religious backgrounds tended to have mothers who were highly
religious but fathers who were more non-religious.95
For over four decades it has been known,96 and replicated,97 that alcoholics with a relig-
ious background or strong religious beliefs are much more likely to seek help and treat-
ment. Indeed, Alcoholics Anonymous, the major organization combating alcoholism in
America, has known for over half a century that the most effective element in its program is
its religious or spiritual component.98 David Larson of the National Institute for Healthcare
Research notes: "Even after alcoholism has been established,religion is often a powerful
91 Barbara R.Lorch and Robert H.Hughes,"Religion and Youth Substance Use,"Journal of Religion and Health,Vol.24
(1985),pp. 197-208.
92 Amoateng and Bahr,"Religion,Family,and Adolescent Drug Use."
93 Lorch and Hughes,"Religion and Youth Substance Use:"
94 Coombs,Wellisch,and Fawzy,"Drinking Patterns and Problems among Female Children and Adolescents: A Comparison of
Abstainers,Past Users and Current Users."
95 Orville S.Walters,"The Religious Background of Fifty Alcoholics,"Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol,Vol. 18(1957),
pp.405-413.
96 F.Lemere,"What Happens to Alcoholics?"American Journal of Psychiatry,Vol 22(1953),pp. 674-676.
97 Walters,"The Religious Background of Fifty Alcoholics."
98 H.M.Tiebaut,"Psychological Factors Operating in Alcoholics Anonymous,"in Current Therapies of Personality Disorders,
ed.B. Glueck(New York: Grune and Stratton, 1946).
16
force in achieving abstinence. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) uses religion, invoking a
Higher Power to help alcoholics recover from addiction."9
Paralleling the research on alcohol addiction, an early review of studies of drug addiction
found a lack of religious commitment to be a predictor of who abuses drugs.l00 Many more
recent studies replicate this finding.101 As in so many other research studies, the best meas-
urement of religious commitment is frequency of church attendance: "Overall church atten-
dance was more strongly related to [less] drug use than was intensity of religious feel-
ings."102 This is-true for-both-males and females. According to-Jerald G.•Bachman of the In-
stitute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, "Factors we found to be most im-
portant in predicting use of marijuana and other drugs during the late 1970's remained most
important during the early 1980's. Drug use is below average among those with strong re-
ligious commitments."10 The more powerfully addictive the drug bein 4 onsidered, the
more powerful is the impact of church attendance in preventing its use.
In results almost identical to those for alcoholics, researchers at the National Institute of
Drug Abuse, a section of the National Institutes of Health and the nation's premier drug
abuse research facility, found in their interviews of narcotic addicts that"the addict had nei-
ther current religious preference nor a history of attending religious services....In addition...
the addicts' fathers were much less involved in regular or frequent religious practices, than
were a parallel group of control fathers....Religiously, the mother was far more involved
than her husband, the difference in regular religious participation between the addict's par-
ents being twice that for the control's parents....Religiously, the addicts were significantly
less involved in reading the Bible, and graying."They also had far more frequent loss of in-
terest in religion during adolescence.10
Louis A. Cancellaro of the Department of Psychiatry at the Veterans Administration in
Johnson City,Tennessee, writes that, "Like their fathers, addicts are less religiously in-
volved than their normal peers, and during adolescence, less frequently make decisions
99 Larson and Larson,"The Forgotten Factor in Physical and Mental Health,"p.71.
100 Richard L.Gorsuch and M.C.Butler,"Initial Drug Abuse:A View of Predisposing Social Psychological Factors,"
Psychological Bulletin,Vol. 3(1976),pp. 120-137.
101 For example,Ron D.Hays,Alan W. Stacy,Keith F.Widaman,M.Robin DiMatteo,and Ralph Downey,"Multistage Path
Models of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use:A Reanalysis,"Journal of Drug Issues,Vol. 16(1986),pp. 357-369;Hasin,
Endicott,and Lewis,"Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Patients with Affective Syndromes"; Steven R.Burkett,"Religion,Parental
Influence and Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use,"Journal of Drug Issues,Vol.7(1977),pp.263-273;Lorch and
Hughes,"Religion and Youth Substance Use";and Edward M.Adalf and Reginald G.Smart,"Drug Use and Religious
Affiliation,Feelings and Behavior,"British.Journal of Addiction,Vol. 80(1985),pp. 163-171.
102 Adalf and Smart,"Drug Use and Religious Affiliation,Feelings and Behavior."
103 Jerald G.Bachman,Lloyd D.Johnson,and Patrick M.O'Malley,"Explaining the Recent Decline in Cocaine Use Among
Young Adults:Further Evidence That Perceived Risks and Disapproval Lead to Reduced Drug Use,"Journal of Health and
Social Behavior,Vol.31 (1990),pp. 173-184,and Hasin,Endicott,and Lewis,"Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Patients With
Affective Syndromes."The findings of this NIMH-supported study were replicated in the above-cited study by Bachman,
Johnson,and O'Malley.
104 Adalf and Smart,"Drug Use and Religious Affiliation,Feelings and Behavior."
105 M.Daum and M.A.Lavenhar,"Religiosity and Drug Use,"National Institute of Drug Abuse,DHEW Publication No. (ADM)
80-939, 1980.
17
.,
either to become 06 ore interested in religion or to commit themselves to a religious philoso-
phy to live by."
In reviewing the religious treatment of addicts, research psychiatrists at the Duke Univer-
sity Department of Psychiatry concluded in 1992: "[The] role of religious commitment and
religiously on 'Chart 5 T
ented treatment
programs can Suicides and Church Attendance •
be significant
Suicide Rate per
factors which ' 5 Church Attendance.per Year I.•.• population
20
ought to be con- 18
sidered and in-
eluded when 4 �6
planning a mix 14
of appropriate 3 12•
treatment alter- 10
natives....Per- 2 8
haps the great- " 6
est advantage of 1 , 4
religious pro- 2
grams is their
recourse to White Black White Black
Males Males Females Females
churches as a - Church Attendance of
Suicide Rate
support system.. People Who Commit Suicide
..Religious Source: William T.Martin."Religiosity and United States Suicide Rates, 1972-1978"Journal of Clinical Psychology.
g Vol.40(1984),pp. 1166-1 169.
treatment pro-
grams are not suitable for everyone. For those men and women who can accept the creeds,
rituals,10 d commitments required of such programs there seem to be certain advan-
tages.
Suicide.The practice of religion reduces the rate of suicide, both in the United States and
abroad.108 In fact, the rate of church attendance predicts the suicide rate better than any
other factor(including unemployment, traditionally regarded as the most powerful vari-
able).Those who attend church frequently are four times less likely to commit suicide than
those who never attend. Conversely, the national decline in church attendance is associated
with a heightened suicide rate;fluctuations in church attendance rates in the 1970s paral-
leled the suicide rates for different subgroups: whites,blacks, men, and women.
106 Louis A.Cancellaro,David B.Larson,and William P.Wilson,"Religious Life of Narcotics Addicts,"Southern Medical
Journal,Vol.75,No. 10(October 1992),pp. 1166-1168.
107 John Muffler,John Langrod,and David Larson,"'There Is a Balm in Gilead':Religion and Substance Abuse Rehabilitation,"
in Substance Abuse:A Comprehensive Textbook,ed.J.H.Lowinson,P.Ruiz,et al. (Baltimore,Md.:Williams and Wilkins,
1992),pp.584-595.
108 Charles E.Joubert,"Religious Nonaffiliation in Relation to Suicide,Murder,Rape,and Illegitimacy,"Psychological Reports,
Vol.75,No. 1,Part 1 (1994),p. 10,and Jon W.Hoelter,"Religiosity,Fear of Death and Suicide Acceptability,"Suicide and
Life Threatening Behavior,Vol.9(1979),pp. 163-172.
109 William T.Martin,"Religiosity and United States Suicide Rates, 1972-1978,"Journal of Clinical Psychology,Vol.40(1984),
pp. 1166-1169.
18
Steven Stack, professor of sociology at Pennsylvania State University, in a landmark
1985 study on the demography of suicide has found that "Families and religion change to-
gether over time....As the importance of the domestic-religious institutional complex de-
clines, the study finds a rise in the rate of suicide,both for the general population and for
the age cohort at the center of the decline, the youth cohort."11 In another, earlier study,
Stack broke new ground in finding that the effect of unemployment in causing suicide is
greatly diminished when religious behavior is factored into the equation.111
In inter-state comparisons, higher levels of:c-hurch attendance are associated with lower
rates of suicide.112 The same holds true in international comparisons.113
Depression. Religion appears to reduce the incidence of depression among those with
medical problems. For instance, University of Michigan Professor of Sociology David Wil-
liams conducted a randomized survey of 720 adults suffering from leg and hip injuries in
New Haven, Connecticut, in 1990.Those who attended religious services regularly were
less depressed and less distressed by life events than those who did not.This finding held
across age, race, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, and religious affiliation. Re-
ligious affiliation alone did not have these effects, but religious behavior did.114
Younger people also tend to experience fewer of the anxieties of growing up if they are
religious. For instance, both male and female Texas high-schoolers found that religious be-
liefs gave meaning to their lives and reduced the incidence of depression among them.115
Self-esteem. The absence of self-esteem weakens the personality and puts the person at
greater risk for crime, addictions, and other social maladies.11.6 In all religious denomina-
tions, psychological weaknesses decrease as religious orthodoxy increases.117 Among col-
lege students, for instance, the practice of religion was shown in 1969 to have a positive ef-
fect on mental health;118 students involved with campus ministries were much healthier
and made much less use of mental health services.
110 Steven Stack,"The Effect of Domestic-Religious Individualism on Suicide, 1954-1978,"Journal of Marriage and the Family,
Vol.47 (1985),pp.431-447.
111 Steven Stack,"The Effect of the Decline in Institutionalized Religion on Suicide, 1954-1978,"Journal for the Scientific Study
of Religion,Vol. 22(1983),pp. 239-252.
112 Lester,"Religiosity and Personal Violence: A Regional Analysis of Suicide and Homicide Rates."
113 Steven Stack: "The Effects of Religious Commitment on Suicide:A Cross-National Analysis,"Journal of Health and Social
Behavior,Vol.24(1983),pp.362-374.
114 Williams,Larson,Buckler,Heckman,and Pyle,"Religion and Psychological Distress in a Community Sample,"
pp. 1257-1262.Religious commitment also had other benefits.Not only were members of the group less depressed,but they
could walk a greater distance at discharge than those without religious beliefs and practices.See Peter Pressman,John S.
Lyons,David B.Larson,and James J. Strain,"Religious Belief,Depression and Ambulation Status in Elderly Women with
Broken Hips,"American Journal of Psychiatry,Vol. 147(1990),pp.758-760.
115 Loyd S.Wright,Christopher J.Frost,and Stephen J.Wisecarver,"Church Attendance,Meaningfulness of Religion on,and
Depressive Symptomology Among Adolescents,"Journal of Youth and Adolescence,Vol.22,No.5 (1993),pp.559-568.
116 Fagan,"The Real Root Causes of Crime:The Breakdown of Marriage,Family,and Community."
117 Stark,"Psychopathology and,Religious Commitment."
118 Clyde C.Mayo,Herbert B. Puryear,and Herbert G.Richek,"MMPI Correlates of Religiousness in Late Adolescent College
Students,"Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease,Vol. 149(November 1969),pp. 381-385.These findings do not hold for
"ego strength."(However,refer to the section on measurements, where this particular finding will be looked at again.)
19
Significantly, self-esteem is linked to a person's image of God.Those with high self-es-
teem
think of God primarily as loving, while those with low self-esteem think of God pri-
marily as punitive. 19 This was observed by Carl Jung, one of the most influential pioneers
of modern psychology and psychotherapy: "Among all my patients in the second half of
my life...there has not been one whose problem in the last resort was not that of finding a
religious outlook on life. It is safe to say that every one of them fell ill because he had lost
that which the living religions of every age have given their followers and none of them has
been really healed who did not regain his religious outlook."120 Other evidence exists that
people with a religious commitment, whether young or old, who become emotionally or
psychologically distressed are much more likely to seek help.121
UNDERSTANDING "INTRINSIC" AND "EXTRINSIC" RELIGIOUS
BEHAVIOR
Recent advances in the investigation of religious behavior have led social scientists to dis-
tinguish between two distinct categories or orientations: "intrinsic" and "extrinsic." Intrin-
sic practice is God-oriented and based on beliefs which transcend the person's own exist-
ence. Research shows this form of religious practice to be beneficial. Extrinsic practice is
self-oriented and characterized by outward observance, not internalized as a guide to behav-
ior or attitudes.The evidence suggests this form of religious practice is actually more harm-
ful than no religion: Religion directed toward some end other than God, or the transcen-
dent, typically degenerates into a rationalization for the pursuit of other ends such as status,
personal security, self justification, or sociability.
The difference between these two forms of religious practice have implications for future
research and for the interpretation of all research on religious practice.There is a radical dif-
ference between what religious people know to be conversion of the spirit or heart and sim-
ply conforming external behavior for its own sake, or for benefits derived from religious be-
havior.122
William James,professor of psychology at Harvard University in the early 1900s and a
pioneer in the psychological study of religious behavior, was the first to make the social sci-
ence distinction between the two forms of religious practice. Gordon Allport, his successor
at Harvard in the late 1960s, concluded: "I feel equally sur2that mental health is facilitated
by an intrinsic, but not an extrinsic, religious orientation.
The two orientations lead to two very different sets of psychological effects. For instance,
"intrinsics"have a greater sense of responsibility and greater internal control, are more self-
motivated,and do better in their studies. By contrast, "extrinsics" are more likely to be dog-
matic, authoritarian, and less responsible, to have less internal control, to be less self-di-
119 Peter L. Bensen and Bernard P. Spilka, "God-Image as a Function of Self-Esteem and Locus of Control"in Current
Perspectives in the Psychology of Religion,ed.H.N.Maloney(Grand Rapids,Mich.:Eerdmans, 1977),pp.209-224.
120 Carl Jung: "Psychotherapies on the Clergy,"in Collected Works,Vol.2(Princeton,N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969),pp.
327-347.
121 Walters,"The Religious Background of Fifty Alcoholics."
122 Larson and Larson,"The Forgotten Factor in Physical and Mental Health,"p. 87.
123 Gordon W.Allport,"The Person in Psychology: Selected Essays"(Boston,Mass.: Beacon Press, 1968),p. 150.
20
rected, and to do less well in their studies.124 Intrinsics are more concerned with moral
standards, conscientiousness, discipline, responsibility, and consistency than are extrinsi-
cally religious people.125 They also are more sensitive to others and more open to their own
emotions. By contrast, extrinsics are more self-indulgent, indolent, and likely to lack de-
pendability. For exampled the most racially prejudiced people turn out to be those who go
to church occasionally and those who are extrinsic in their practice of religion.127 These
findings have been replicated 128 in a number of different forms.129
The contrasting effects-show-up-in-college students. Intrinsically religious students tend
to have internal locus of control, intrinsic motives, and a higher grade point average.130 By
contrast, a 1980 study indicated that extrinsically religious students were more dogmatic
and authoritarian, less responsible and less motivated, had less internal locus of control, and
had a lower grade point average. Intrinsically religious students were found to have a
greater concern for moral standards and to be more conscientious, disciplined, responsible,
and consistent,while the extrinsic were more self-indulgent, more indolent, and less de-
pendable.131
In general, intrinsics are less anxious about life's ups and downs, while extrinsics are
more anxious. Further, the religious beliefs and practices of intrinsics are more integrated;
for instance, they are more likely to worship publicly as well as pray privately. By contrast,
those who pray privately but do not worship publicly tend to have a higher level of general
anxiety—a characteristic of extrinsics generally.132 In an ironic set of findings on anxiety
about death, extrinsics fared worst of all: worse than intrinsics and worse than those with-
out religious beliefs.133 From a purely social science standpoint,the intrinsic form of relig-
ion is thus good and desirable, and the extrinsic form is harmful. Religious teachers, with-
- out being utilitarian, would agree.134
124 R.D. Kahoe,"Personality and Achievement Correlates on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientations,"Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,Vol.29(1974),pp. 812-818.
125 Ken F.Wiebe and J.Roland Fleck,"Personality Correlates of Intrinsic,Extrinsic and Non-Religious Orientations,"Journal of
Psychology,Vol. 105 (1980),pp. 111-117.
126 Michael J.Donahue,"Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religiousness: Review and Meta-Analysis,"Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology,Vol.48(1985),pp.400-419.
127 Ibid.
128 Allen E.Bergin, K.S.Masters,and P. Scott Richards,"Religiousness and Mental Health Reconsidered: A Study of an
Intrinsically Religious Sample,"Journal of Counseling Psychology,Vol.34(1987),pp. 197-204.
129 M.Baker and R.Gorsuch,"Trait Anxiety and Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religiousness,"Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,
Vol.21 (1982),pp. 119-122,and Gordon W.Allport and J.Michael Ross,"Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice,"
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,Vol.5 (1967),pp.432-443.
130 Kahoe,Personality and Achievement Correlates on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientations."
131 Wiebe and Fleck,"Personality Correlates of Intrinsic,Extrinsic and Non-Religious Orientations."
132 Bergin,Masters,and Richards,"Religiousness and Mental Health Reconsidered:A Study of an Intrinsically Religious
Sample."
133 Ann M.Downey,"Relationships of Religiosity to Death Anxiety of Middle-Aged Males,"Psychological Reports,Vol.54
(1984),pp. 811-822.
134 The benefit of the intrinsic practice of religion certainly be obvious to most ordinary Americans. But in research results,many
of the deleterious effects of the extrinsic practice of religion wipe out many of the benefits of intrinsic practice when adherents
of both are mixed together in the same piece of research.Most religious research to date does not measure or differentiate
between intrinsic and extrinsic practice of religion.Despite this shortcoming,the studies cited up to now do not distinguish
21
RELIGION AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
There is a tension between practitioners of social science and religious belief.135 Darwin
L.Thomas and Gwendolyn C. Henry, professors of sociology at Brigham.Young Univer-
sity, write: "From the work of Freud and others, much of the early history of the social sci-
ences is characterized by the expectation that involvement in and reliance upon the relig-
ious i 3s6titution will be associated with people who have a low sense of personal well-be-
There is repeated evidence that much the same hostility to religion—a hostility at vari-
ance with the attitude of the vast majority of Americans—persists among members of
America's professional elites.137
+ Stephen L. Carter, professor of law at Yale University, points out that"One sees a
trend in our political and legal cultures toward treating religious beliefs as arbitrary
and unimportant, a trend supported by rhetoric that implies that there is something
wrong with religious devotion. More and more, our culture seems to take the posi-
tion that believing deeply in the tenets of one's faith represents a kind of mystical
irrationality, something that thoughtful, public-spirited American citizens would do
better to avoid."138 However, the available evidence renders such opposition unrea-
sonable.
+ Professor David Larson of Duke University Medical School draws attention to
similar biases in the mental health professions. Consider The Diagnostic and Statis-
tical Manual, the standard reference manual for the classification of mental ill-
nesses, which essentially defines the practice of psychiatrists, clinical psychology,
and clinical social work and is central to the practice, research, and financing of
these professions. In the third edition, religious examples were used only as illustra-
tions in discussions of mental illness, such as delusions, incoherence, and illogical
thinking.The latest edition has corrected this bias.
between these types of religious practice,yet show a very positive outcome.This poses a number of important research issues,
chief among them whether this is because there are only a few extrinsics among those who go to church most frequently. For
researchers and those who commission research,there is an obvious need to measure whether the person's practice of religion,
when it is present,is more intrinsic or extrinsic.Fortunately,a simple validated scale has been developed to measure the
person's religious motivation. See Dean R.Hoge, "A Validated Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale,"Journal for Scientific
Study of Religion,Vol. 11 (1972),pp.369-376.
135 In the view of this author,that tension arises from the effort of the social sciences to contain religion within the canons of the
social sciences.However the canons of religion transcend these canons,and therefore cannot be reduced to the dimensions of
any of the social sciences,though every social science can describe some facets of religious behavior.
136 Thomas and Henry,"The Religion and Family Connection: Increasing Dialogue in the Social Sciences."
137 The Gallup survey (Religion in America 1985)continues to indicate that religious commitment is avowed by one-third of
Americans as the most important dimension in their lives and that,for another third,religion is considered to be very
important(but not the single most dominant)factor.Religion in America:The Gallup Report, Report No. 236, 1985
(Princeton,N.J.:Princeton Religion Research Center, 1985)quoted in Alan E.Bergin and Jay P. Stevens,"Religiosity of
Psychotherapists: A National Survey,"Psychotherapy,Vol.27(1990),pp. 3-7.
138 Stephen L.Carter, The Culture of Disbelief(New York:Anchor Books, 1994),pp. 6-7.
22
Consider also the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, one of the most
widely used of all psychological tests. In the MMPI, all the positive religion-con-
nected traits—self-discipline, altruism, humility, obedience to authority, conven-
tional morality—are weighted negatively.Thus, to choose the self-description "I
am orthodoxly religious" is to detract from one's mental health standing. Con-
versely, several traits that religious people would regard as diminishing them-
selves, at least in some situations—self-assertion, self-expression, and a high opin-
ion of oneself—are weighted positively.139 The latest editions of the MMPI have
removed the biased items.
Despite this general hostility among social science and mental health professionals, the
empirical evidence shows religion to be a very powerful and positive part of everyday life.
Patrick McNamara, professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico, explains the
difference between social scientists and religiously affiliated people generally: "Sociolo-
gists tend to see concern for personal challenge—e.g. to get one's own moral life in order—
as somehow secondary to social challenge or the effort to identify and criticize those socio-
economic structures that inhibit the individual's own group from attaining a fuller human
existence"140 McNamara continues: "In [the] typical social science analysis, the demands
of the inner life are neglected and personal agency and autonomy exercised in the choice to
examine one's own life and put it in order according to an internalized ethic of repentance...
is not acknowledged."141
Despite the attitude of many professionals, Gallup surveys continue to indicate that one-
third of the American people regard religious commitment as the most important dimension
in their lives. Another third re and religion as a very important, though not the single most
dominant, factor in their lives. 42
Totally secular approaches to many issues—public policy, psychotherapy, and education
—use an alien framework for this two-thirds of the population.The plain fact is that relig-
ion plays a powerful role in the personal and social lives of most Americans. It is a role that
should be understood clearly by the professions, by policymakers, and by the media.
From many other areas of social science research—family dynamics, group dynamics,
marital dynamics—positive reciprocal relationships with others are known to be powerful
across a host of areas similar to those reviewed in this paper: stress, ability to relate with
others in general, productivity, and learning, to name just a few.The core of the religious
commitment is an intention to have a positive relationship with another Being, a transcen-
dent and therefore all-available Being.Viewed in this fashion, the documented effects of re-
ligious commitment are not mysterious, but an extension of the effects which we know
arise from positive relations between human beings.Thus, the findings on religion fit with
the general corpus of what is known about relationships from the existing body of social sci-
ence research.
139 Larson and Larson,"The Forgotten Factor in Physical and Mental Health."
140 Patrick McNamara,"The New Rights View of the Family and Its Social Science Critics:A Study in Differing
Presuppositions,"Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol.47(1985),pp.449-458.
141 Ibid.
142 Religion in America.
23
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
The evidence indicates strongly that it is a good social policy to foster the widespread
practice of religion. It is bad social policy to block it.The widespread practice of religious
beliefs is one of America's greatest national resources. It strengthens individuals,families,
communities, and society as a whole. It significantly affects educational and job attainment
and reduces the incidence of such major social problems as out-of-wedlock births, drug and
alcohol addiction, crime, and delinquency. No other dimension of the nation's life, other
than the health of the family (which the data show also is tied powerfully to religious prac-
tice) should be of more concern to those who guide the future course of the United States.
The original intent of the Founding Fathers was to bar the establishment by the federal
government of a state-approved religion, not to bar religion from the operations of the state.
Thomas Jefferson made this distinction very clear in the Virginia Statute for Religious Free-
dom (January 16, 1786):
We, the General Assembly of Virginia do enact that no man shall be
compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or
ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or
burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account
of his religious opinions or belief: but that all men shall be free to
profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of
religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect
their civil capacities.143
George Washington summed up the importance of religion to the new nation with particu-
lar eloquence in his farewell address:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that
man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these
great pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of
men and citizens.The mere politician, equally with the pious man ought
to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their
connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked,
Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of
religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of
investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.Whatever
may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
'Tis substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of
popular government.The rule indeed extends with more or less force to
every species of free government.Who that is a sincere friend to it can
143 Henry Steele Commager,ed.,Documents of American History,9th ed. (NJ: Prentice Hall, 1973),p. 175.
24
look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the
fabric?144
A policy can be friendly to the general practice of,religion, and to the many different
faiths in a pluralistic society, without in any way implying the establishment of a particular
religion. Federal policies encourage many other institutions: the marketplace, education,
medicine, science, and the arts. Even religion itself is explicitly encouraged by the tax treat-
ment of contributions to religious institutions. It makes no sense, therefore, not to encour-
age the resource that most powerfully addresses the major social problems confronting the
nation. Congress and the President can help to accomplish this by acting decisively in at
least six specific areas:
0 Congress, and the Senate in particular, should lead a new national debate on
the renewed role of religion in American life. With his recent guidance to school
administrators on prayer in school, President Clinton has opened the national discus-
sion.The Senate once was the chamber for debate on the great issues of the day. It is
time for it to take up that role again on the relationship between the practice of relig-
ion and the life of the nation, on the health of America's families and the content of
its culture.
America needs a major national debate on the true role of religion in a free and
pluralistic society.For many decades, the once-prominent place of religion in soci-
ety has been eroded. Religious leaders, who should be in the forefront of moral and
spiritual renewal, have been cowed into a strange timidity. Americans of religious
belief should not be bullied into believing that in all things related to the public
good, religion is to remain off limits.The constitutional freedom of religion does
not mean the constitutional barring of religion from the public square.
@ Congress should pass a resolution affirming that data on religious practice
are important to the nation, to policymakers, and to the research needed to
inform the public debate. The gathering of data that touch on religious practice
often is blocked in research on social issues funded by the federal government.145
Because government funds a huge proportion of the nation's funded social research,
this has a chilling effect. But the relationship between religious practice and the so-
cial issues under investigation by government, such as out-of-wedlock births, crime
and delinquency, addiction, economic dependency, medical and psychiatric prob-
lems, and learning capacity, should be explored. A sense-of-the-Congress resolution
would remove the excuse that it is not permissible for federally funded research to
touch on this aspect of life.
144 George Washington,Farewell Address,September 19, 1796, in George Washington:A Collection,ed.W. B.Allen
(Indianapolis,Ind.:Liberty Classics, 1988),p.521.
145 For instance,Congress has been funding only research projects that ignore or bury the effects of religion while scrupulously
trying to avoid any initiative that in some way might advance religious belief or practice.This essentially is what has happened
in the vast areas of social science research financed by the federal government that is among the work covered in this study.
25
O Congress should mandate a census question on religious practice. The census
for the year 2000 ought to ask about frequency of attendance at church or syna-
gogue. It violates nobody's freedom of religion for Congress to know the level and
intensity of religious worship in the United States. Also, many of the annual sample
surveys conducted by the Bureau of the Census would be significantly better in-
formed if similar information were gathered in those surveys.
O Congress should commission research on the relationship between regular
church attendance and social issues. This research should focus on the social is-
sues which continue to increase the burden borne by the American taxpayer, includ-
ing crime, drug use, health of the elderly, out-of-wedlock births, and poverty.
® Congress should fund federal experiments with school choice that include
choice of religiously affiliated schools. To deny financial support to parents who
cannot afford to send their children to religiously oriented schools is to deny such
education to those children who may need it most and confine it to those rich
enough to afford it.The United States of America and the now-defunct Union of So-
viet Socialist Republics are the only major modern states to deny funding to faith-
based schools.
O The President should appoint, and the Senate should confirm,judges who
are sensitive to the role of religion in public life. Religion should not be
crowded out of every activity in which government is involved. And yet, this is pre-
cisely what has been happening for the last 30 years as government has encroached
more and more on virtually every area of American life:family, school, and market-
place.This does not make sense for any society—and it has weakened ours.
Columnist William Raspberry has put his finger on the problem. In his historic
majority opinion in the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education case (330 U.S. 1),
notes Raspberry,Justice Hugo Black wrote that government is forbidden to "pass
laws which aid any religion, aid all religion, or prefer one religion over another."
The first and third elements in the Black proscription seem to me to jibe
with the "establishment"clause of the Constitution.The middle one
suggests that the only proper position of government is hostility to
religion—which seems to be the prevailing view among civil
libertarians and a majority of the Supreme Court.146
This calls to mind the words of the late William 0. Douglas, one of the most lib-
eral of Supreme Court Justices, who wrote in the 1950s:
We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme
Being.We guarantee the freedom to worship as one chooses. [When]
the state encourages religious instruction or cooperates with religious
authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events to sectarian needs,
[it] respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the
public service to their spiritual needs.To hold that it may not would be
146 William Raspberry,"Prevent the Abuse,Preserve the Privilege,"The Washington Post,April 7, 1993,p.A27.
26
to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a
callous indifference to religious groups.That would be x7 eferring those
who believe in no religion over those who do believe.
The Senate should ask all future candidates for federal court appointments to clar-
ify their opinions regarding both the role of religion in the life of the body politic
and their understanding of the Founding Fathers' intent on this issue.
But this problem is far too important to be left to government. America's religious lead-
ers and individual citizens also must act:
O They must draw attention to the enormous and beneficial effects on society
of the true practice of religion. As leaders of the nation's religious communities,
they should assert their right to be regarded as critical in the nurturing of stable mar-
riages and healthy families. Religion performs the foundational work that ensures
the success of secular society's other four basic institutions: family, school, market-
place, and government.
® They must emphasize the need for religious formation. While the social works
of mercy carried out by religious congregations will be needed more and more to re-
pair the damage from the breakdown of the family, only a religious institution can
give a religious orientation to those who are searching for answers to the mysteries
of human life: love and suffering in birth, marriage, family life, and death. Religious
beliefs help the individual acquire central organizing principles for life and an under-
standing of God. Aided by this sense and these principles, an individual can avoid
the unnecessary suffering that stems from bad choices and attain the benefits that
flow from good choices followed steadily through life.Today, schools are forbidden
to participate in this critical work. Only religious leaders can provide this all-impor-
tant service to society.
® They must take special care of the religious formation of children at risk of
losing their faith in God, especially during the transition period from child-
hood to adolescence. The empirical research indicates that there is a critical stage
in the development of young adults, from around ten years of age through later ado-
lescence, during which they decide whether they will engage in the religious dia-
logue of searching for ultimate truths and meaning.The young adolescent who turns
away from religion at this stage may well lose his anchoring in the community and
is at greater risk for a host of problems that can subvert his personal happiness for a
lifetime. Increased attention to this aspect of religious ministry will yield great bene-
fits to the nation. Of particular concern to public policy leaders are the problems
that plague America's inner cities: out-of-wedlock births, addiction, and crime.
These neighborhoods need the benefits of religious belief and practice.They are
"mission"territories that beckon loudly.
147 Zorach v. Clauson,343 U.S. 306,72 S.Ct.679,96 L.Ed 954(1952).
27
0 They must use the ability of inner-city churches, especially black churches, to
help low-income African-Americans escape from the degrading culture of in-
ner-city poverty. Many religious leaders, with the best of intentions, have concen-
trated on the material aspects of their work, forgetting that the most powerful help
they can give is in the spiritual dimension, and that this has a significant effect on
material well-being. Regular church attendance will do more to help a child get out
of poverty than anything else the religious leader can provide. And it will transform
the community if most people can be persuaded to become church members.
CONCLUSION
The available evidence clearly demonstrates that regular religious practice is both an indi-
vidual and social good. It is a powerful answer to many of our most significant social prob-
lems, some of which, including out-of-wedlock births, have reached catastrophic propor-
tions. Furthermore, it is available to all, and at no cost.
America is at a crossroads. Political leaders as diverse as President Clinton, Senate Major-
ity Leader Robert Dole, and House Speaker Newt Gingrich all have articulated popular con-
cerns and fears about the level of the breakdown of American society.148 Almost simultane-
ously, Americans are becoming aware of the fundamental contribution that married family
life and regular religious practice can make to preserving that society.
For the sake of the nation's future health, it is time to redirect public policy so that these
two vast resources, instead of being weakened further, can be rejuvenated and encouraged.
Many of the goals of social policy and social work can be attained,indirectly and power-
fully, through the practice of religion. None of this invalidates education or social work,
which operate at a different level of the human condition. However, as demands for social
work outstrip (and give every indication of far outstripping) social work resources, it is
good to know that the practice of religion is a powerful ally.
The practice of religion is good for individuals, families, states, and the nation. It im-
proves health, learning, economic well-being, self-control, self-esteem, and empathy. It re-
duces the incidence of social pathologies, such as out-of-wedlock births, crime, delin-
quency, drug and alcohol addiction, health problems, anxieties, and prejudices.
The Founding Fathers, in their passionate love of freedom, promoted the freedom of all
Americans to practice their religious beliefs, but Congress and the courts have crowded re-
ligion out of the public square. It is time to bring it back. Religious practice can and should
be factored into the planning and debate on the nation's urgent social problems. Americans
cannot build their future without drawing on the strengths that come to them from the prac-
tice of their religious beliefs.
The widespread practice of religious beliefs can only benefit the nation, and the task of re-
integrating religious practice into American life while protecting and respecting the rights
of non-practice—rights that, despite persistent demagoguery on the subject, remain totally
148 See Patrick F.Fagan"Social Breakdown in America,"in Issues '96(Washington,D.C.:The Heritage Foundation,forthcoming
1996).
28