Over at the Touchstone magazine website, Logan Paul Gage examines evidence that religion is not only not poisonous, it is a positive force in society (shocking to think so, ain't it?):
Civic engagement—reading the newspaper and voting, for example—and participation in voluntary associations also increase with frequent church attendance. For every one voluntary association—like a civic club or PTO—among the non-religious, there are 2.4 such associations among those who attend religious services more than once per week.
Thus, Smith concludes: “Religious involvement is associated with, and probably promotes, civic engagement. . . . Those participating in a faith community are more likely to vote, belong to voluntary associations, and carry out altruistic acts than the nonreligious.”
Religiously Altruistic
The latter claim may seem presumptuous, but according to the 2002–2004 GSS, for every 100 altruistic acts—like giving blood or letting someone ahead of you in the checkout line—performed by nonreligious people, the religious perform 144.
Volunteerism also benefits from religion, according to Baylor’s Christopher Bader and F. Carson Mencken (finally, a religion-friendly Mencken), who cited the Baylor Religion Survey. Weekly church attendees volunteer more often in their communities, both through the church and through secular organizations.
In related news, The Christian Post reports that the University of Oxford is spending $4 million bucks to "to investigate why people believe in God."
The university's Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion will bring together anthropologists, theologians, philosophers and other academics for a three-year study on whether belief in a divine being is an inherent part of mankind's makeup.
"We are interested in exploring exactly in what sense belief in God is natural," said Justin Barrett, a psychologist and leading member of the research team, according to the Church of England Newspaper. "We think there is more on the nature side than a lot of people suppose."
The researchers will develop a "scientific approach" to why mankind believes in God and other issues around the nature and origin of religious belief. The study will also look into which religious beliefs are most common and most natural for the human mind to grasp.
Roger Trigg, acting director of the Ian Ramsey Center, said anthropological and philosophical research suggests that faith in God is a universal human impulse found in most cultures around the world, even though it's been waning in Britain and parts of Europe, according to The Associated Press.
No news if any research will be done to study why researchers study why mankind believes in God.
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