January 21, 2020
Activities: Crime / Legal, Health, Public Safety, Religion / Spiritual Development, Societal Benefit
Image source: Unsplash
Mixing religion with government is typically taboo. But I’m going to try here.
Just the other day, I read an article about clergy in certain churches being denied the same protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) when it came to dealing with mental health. They (rightfully) came forth with mental issues, and instead of being supported by their organizations, were discharged or forced to resign.
It’s pretty obvious why the ADA does not apply to religious organizations — the courts want no part of directing or influencing where religious beliefs take precedence. It’s the whole point of “church and state.”
But is it always so obvious the two should be separated?
There is mounting evidence of the good that religion provides. And I mean this generally, with no particular religion in mind. And of course this ignores all the thousands of years of holy wars that destroyed peoples and places.
But there is actually good that comes out of your day-to-day religious practices. The Heritage Foundation published an interesting outlook on this topic citing many different studies and facts that support the positive impacts of religious practice.
The overall impact of religious practice is illustrated dramatically in the three most comprehensive systematic reviews of the field. Some 81 percent of the studies showed the positive benefit of religious practice, 15 percent showed neutral effects, and only 4 percent showed harm.
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 more recent social science insights into “healthy religious practice” and “unhealthy religious practice.”
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 unhealthy religious practice are used to downplay the generally positive influence of religion. This both distorts the true nature of religious belief and practice and causes many policymakers to ignore its positive social consequences.
[As far as positive impacts go] there is ample evidence that:
– The strength of the family unit is intertwined with the practice of religion. Churchgoers 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 people 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.
– 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 longevity, improves one’s chances of recovery from illness, and lessens the incidence of many killer diseases.
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