How does religion benefit society

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Your Journey Frontline Professionals. Get Involved Become a Fundraiser. First, studies have shown that religious attendance once or more per week leads to an extra seven years of life expectancy.

Other studies have shown other health benefits such as a stronger immune system and lower blood pressure. Further, religious involvement has been linked to less depression and less alcohol and drug use. Religious participation by kids has been shown to result in less juvenile delinquency, less drug use including less smoking, better school attendance, and a higher probability of graduating from high school.

Graduating from high school has a large positive economic impact, so that is a big benefit to the economy. Less juvenile delinquency also provides big savings through the avoided costs of incarceration and rehabilitation. Similarly, adults who regularly attend religious services also commit fewer crimes. Again, this comes with huge savings as both crime and prisons are very expensive.

They also end up on welfare and unemployed less often. More cost savings for those entitlement programs. People who are regular religious attendees give more money to charity than other people, which does much good in their communities. And this should matter, not only to believers concerned about its eternal consequences, but to unbelievers who, while they may resist the thought, have long reaped the benefits of living among the faithful.

For one thing, as Arthur Brooks has conclusively demonstrated, believers give more to charity. To choose an American example, 91 percent of religious conservatives give to charitable causes, compared to only 67 percent of those who identify themselves as secular liberals. Those who pray daily are 30 percent more likely to give to charity than people who never pray.

In Europe, too, churchgoers volunteer 30 percent more often, overall, than non-churchgoers. Even controlling for other factors, 83 percent of religious Americans will volunteer in any given year, while, among secular French people, only 27 percent will.

Moreover, scores of studies have demonstrated that believers live longer, healthier lives. People who never attend religious services are at the highest risk of early death, while those who attend more than once each week have the lowest such risk.

At age 20, this translates into a seven-year difference in average life expectancy. Religious people heal more quickly from serious diseases and surgeries. In addition, as many studies have shown, religious people tend to be much happier and more satisfied than the irreligious. People of faith and religious-based institutions continue to play an important role in shaping social and moral issues through proper democratic channels. Like other worthy organizations and causes, religious people and institutions deserve to be heard in the public sphere — neither religious nor secular voices should be silenced.

Of course, the accommodation of religious liberty does not undermine other crucial interests in society. The free-exercise clause of the United States Constitution protects religion in America, but not religious extremism that threatens others.

Government can and does, for example, impose reasonable restrictions to protect the health and safety of citizens in a pluralistic society.

However, the legal and legislative process provides a means to continually protect, shape and define religious freedom so it is not overridden. While reasonable protections are welcomed, they should respect the healthy separation between government and religion that allows religion to thrive. Indeed, the proper separation of church and state has the effect of strengthening religious institutions and the broader community.

To exert its positive influence, religious organizations and individuals must maintain space from government — physical, social and legal — to freely practice their faith. This enables religious institutions to express their message, determine who they are, and live out their convictions in meaningful ways.