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Abstract
Research
shows that religious faith supports stronger families, higher educational
achievement, fewer behavioral problems, less crime, and thus responsible
citizenship, which are important for any democracy. Democracy depends on the
strength of the family and a critical mass of virtuous citizens. Without faith,
more children suffer, families languish, and democracy is undermined. While
religious faith is an assurance about things we do not see, visible
“facts” and benefits can point us to the good and the true. It’s time to return,
like the Prodigal Son, and receive the benefits.
Introduction
Man studies everything. We study
the earth, sky and sea and everything therein. We study our bodies, every part
and cell, including our DNA programming. We study our communities, families,
sexual and social habits.
We call the information from our
studies “findings,” as if to suggest that we are looking for something. The
process of looking for things is called a search, and so we do research
to produce findings.
Social
scientists have completed many studies and research on families and social life.
When it comes to the relationship of religious faith to family life and social
development, which have implications for our democratic institutions, what are
their findings?
Family Life
• Married individuals who
attended religious services often were less likely to be unfaithful to their
spouses than peers who attended less frequently.[i]
• Individuals who reported being
members of conservative religious affiliations (conservative Protestant,
conservative sectarian faiths) as well as Catholics reported, on average,
reduced odds of marital infidelity compared to peers with no religious
affiliation.[ii]
• Controlling for other selected
factors associated with the likelihood of divorce, counties with higher
concentrations of a number of religious groups had a lower incidence of divorce.[iii]
• Higher levels of marital
socializing, and wives’ reports of happiness with the affection and
understanding of their husbands are associated with higher religious attendance
of married men with children.[iv]
• For men, having a child
appeared to be associated with increased attendance at religious services.[v]
• Fathers’ religious
participation appeared to influence engagement in their children’s lives. Men
who attended religious services more frequently around the time of their
children’s birth reported being more involved in the children’s lives one year
later compared to peers who attended less frequently. Fathers with high levels
of religious attendance (at least several times a month) around the time of the
birth of their children reported the highest levels of engagement with their
children one year later.[vi]
• Among fathers living in urban
areas, those who more frequently attended religious services were more likely to
be engaged with their one-year-olds (i.e., “playing games such as peekaboo…”,
“singing songs or nursery rhymes with the child,” and “reading stories to the
child”) than peers who attended less frequently. Fathers who reduced the
frequency of their religious attendance during the first year of their
children’s lives became, on average, less engaged with their one-year-olds
compared to peers who maintained their level of religious attendance.[vii]
Religious
faith is also beneficial to intellectual and social development of the
individual.
Social
Development
• According to the report of
parents, children of parents who more frequently attended religious services had
a higher level of cognitive development.[viii]
• On average, teens from intact
families with frequent religious attendance earned the highest GPA (2.94) when
compared to (a) their peers from intact families with low to no religious
attendance (2.75), (b) peers from non-intact families with frequent religious
attendance (2.72), and (c) peers from non-intact families with low to no
religious attendance (2.48).[ix]
• Children whose parents both
attended church frequently tended to exhibit higher levels of self-control.[x]
• Parents’ discussions with
their children about religion was related to a decrease in the likelihood that
their children would exhibit problem behavior in school.[xi]
• Children were less likely to
exhibit behavioral problems at school if either of their parents attended
religious services and if both parents attended church with the same frequency,
whether sporadically or frequently, than children whose parents did not attend
religious services at all.[xii]
• Teens from intact families
with frequent religious attendance were the least likely to have ever committed
a theft of $50 or more (11.7 percent) when compared to (a) those from intact
families with low to no religious attendance (15.3 percent), (b) those from
non-intact families with frequent religious attendance (15.8 percent), and (c)
those from non-intact families with low to no religious attendance (23.5
percent).[xiii]
• Adolescents and young women
who said that religion and spirituality were more important in their lives were
less likely than other peers to smoke or binge drink.[xiv]
• Compared with peers who had
lower levels of religiosity as pre-teens (measured by participation in religious
activities, studies, services, and importance ascribed to religion), those with
higher levels of pre-teen religiosity tended to exhibit higher levels of
religiosity as adolescents and young adults and a lower likelihood of engaging
in substance abuse.[xv]
Democratic Citizenship
Religious
faith supports higher educational achievement, fewer behavioral problems, less
crime, and thus responsible citizenship, which are important for any democracy.
The Founders of American
democracy realized that an educated and virtuous and morally responsible
citizenry is necessary for democracy to work.
Joseph Weiler, Professor
of International and European Law at the College d’Europe in Brugge, said in
Vienna in 2006:
One possible explanation for the
success of what used to be called “Western Liberal Democracy” is precisely the
Judaeo-Christian tradition…
The Judeao-Christian
tradition teaches self-restraint in our own exercise of our liberties. We are
free to do many things, but we don’t simply follow all our desires without
restraint. …Our political culture is a culture of self-restraint in the exercise
of power, which—as even an atheist or agnostic would acknowledge—we owe to the
Judeo-Christian tradition.
Another factor, he
notes, one that perhaps the “Judaic tradition has contributed even more than the
Christian one,” is that “we uphold the idea of the rule of law. There is no
democracy without the rule of law.”[xvi]
Further, in the words of
Catholic writer George Weigel:
You cannot have a democracy
without a … sufficient critical mass of men and women who have internalized the
habits of the heart and the habits of the mind—the virtues, if you will—that are
essential to the conduct of an experiment in democratic self-governance.
Democracy is not a machine that can run by itself. The machine can, for a time,
compensate for the inadequacies of the citizenry. But over the long haul, the
machine needs mechanics—and mechanics of a certain cast of mind and soul—to make
it work such that the machinery serves the ends of human flourishing. Every
two-year old ever born is a natural tyrant: a beautiful bundle of willfulness
and self-centeredness who must, in our societies, be transformed, somehow, into
a democratic citizen, a member of a civil society. I do not believe that
Christian orthodoxy constitutes the only possible set of religious and moral
warrants capable of making tyrants into democrats. But I believe that Christian
personalism and a Christian optic on the human condition can be a powerful and
positive influence in shaping the attitudes toward “the other” that are
essential to the democratic experiment. . . . .
…Christian orthodoxy
engenders reverence toward the neighbor, the “other,” as a unique subject. And
this reverence includes religious tolerance. In fact, religious tolerance is a
religious accomplishment and religiously warranted.[xvii]
Religious citizens are good
citizens even in a secular democracy. Here are just a few “findings” from
research.
• The religious tradition of a
nation was related to the level of participation by citizens in voluntary
associations. Nations with a stronger religious tradition, which was measured by
the number of individuals who identified themselves as a “religious person,”
tended to have higher levels of participation in voluntary associations by their
citizens than those nations with weaker religious traditions.[xviii]
Religious believers not only
participate in their religious institutions; they support and serve
secular institutions at a higher level than non-religious citizens:
• Compared with the donations of
peers who seldom or never attended a house of worship, the average donation
given to nonreligious charities by individuals who attended a house of worship
weekly or more often was 14 percent higher.[xix]
• Compared with peers who seldom
or never attended a house of worship, individuals who attended weekly or more
often were 31 percentage points more likely to volunteer for causes that were
completely secular (60% vs. 29%).[xx]
Practicality or Faith?
We can go on and on citing
findings that correlate religious faith and practice with family stability,
healthy socialization and other positive benefits for a democratic society.
So, if religious faith is good
for your family, for society, for democracy, why not embrace it? But it is not
so easy for people to return to religious faith. Even the benefits may not be
persuasive when other factors are present, especially, if we are honest, a
lifestyle that would have to be curtailed or abandoned if one converted to
orthodox Christianity.
Russell Kirk, a founder of the
modern American conservative movement, remarked that “attempts at persuading
people that religion is useful” cannot
meet with much genuine success.
No man sincerely goes down on his knees to the divine because he has been told
that such rituals lead to the beneficial consequences of tolerably honest
behavior in commerce. People will conform their actions to the precepts of
religion only when they earnestly believe the doctrines of that religion to be
true. . . . [F]aith in divine power cannot be summoned up merely when that is
found expedient.[xxi]
Yet
sometimes a consideration of benefits in the face of personal needs leads
individuals by small steps to religious faith. A man may become more religious
after converting to his fiancé’s religion before marriage. It may be a
conversion of convenience, but he may grow to embrace that faith more strongly.
Parents
seeking help raising a child with behavioral problems may attend a parenting
class sponsored by Christians. Through the friendships made there, they discover
religion, visit a church, and eventually join. They became religious through
seeking help for a need, motivated by love.
The Gospels
show many people bringing to Jesus their sick, lame, blind, and deaf: Jesus
responds: “Your faith has made you whole.” Their faith is a practical action
seeking a tangible benefit. Jesus does not turn them away.
De Verloren Zoon (The Prodigal Son)
Our
findings show us the benefits of religion. What does this mean for our
societies? Let me answer by reviewing a few pictures of De Verloren Zoon,
the Prodigal Son, by Rembrandt.
One: The
Prodigal Son abandons his father, but still takes his inheritance and travels to
a far country.
 He no
longer needs the religion of his Father, just as we in the West have outgrown
Christianity but still utilize the fruit of this inheritance.
Two: In
that far country, the son wastes his inheritance in loose living.
 Clearly the
implication is of sexual license. He lives off the labors of the previous
generation, enjoying himself and taking no thought for the future. He frequents
bars, looking for casual sex, and wants only to have a good time. After spending
his father’s money, he puts it all on a Visa or Mastercard.
Three. The
Prodigal, having spent everything and maxed his credit cards, gets a low paying
job, feeding swine.
 He is
starving. We live with spiritual and emotional starvation—broken homes,
addicted, suicidal children, STDs, bleak economic futures, with the shadows of a
coming demographic winter. Much of this can be traced to the abandonment of
religion and its morals: our inheritance. He has no future in this far country.
Four. The
Prodigal Son considers some facts. He “re-searches” and remembers the
stability and wealth of his father. He determines that his father can afford to
hire him as a servant. He decides to leave the pigs and walk back to his father,
not as a son, but to feed his body and stay alive. He remains estranged from his
father and only wants the benefit of a job. The son turns in the direction of
the good and moves toward it.
Five. The
Father meets the son on the way and embraces him as his son.
While
religious faith is an assurance about things we do not see, visible
“facts” and benefits can point us to the good and the true. We do not see the
Father, but those who see the signs can take the road back toward him, who will
at some point meet them on the way.
Without
religious faith, there would be no Western civilization. Without faith, more
children suffer, families languish, and democracy is undermined. It’s time to
return, and receive the benefits of our inheritance.
James M.
Kushiner is a native of Detroit, Michigan, and has lived in Chicago since 1972
with his wife, Patricia, where they are members of All Saints Antiochian
Orthodox Church. They have six children and ten grandchildren.
He is the
Executive Director of The Fellowship of St. James, a non-profit ecumenical
association. He is Executive Editor of
Touchstone:
A Journal of Mere Christianity.
He is
editor, with William A. Dembski, of
Signs of
Intelligence, (Brazos Press, 2001) and editor of Creed & Culture: A
Touchstone Reader, published in 2003 by ISI books.
In 2006 he
co-founded
Salvo
Magazine, a quarterly publication for young adults seeking intelligent
responses and alternatives to the secular and materialistic worldviews
dominating elite society and the media.
Endnotes:
[i] Data
came from the 1991-2004 General Social Surveys (GSS). The analytical
sample consisted of 7,791 adults. “Are There Religious Variations in
Marital Infidelity?” Burdette, A. M.; Ellison, C. G.; Sherkat, D. E., &
Gore, K. A. Journal of Family Issues Vol. 28, Number 12. , 2007.
Page(s) 1553-1581. FindingID: 9129
[ii] Data
came from the 1991-2004 General Social Surveys (GSS). The analytical
sample consisted of 7,791 adults. “Are There Religious Variations in
Marital Infidelity” Burdette, A. M., Ellison, C. G., Sherkat, D. E., &
Gore, K. A. Journal of Family Issues Vol. 28, Number 12. , 2007.
Page(s) 1553-1581. FindingID: 9128
[iii] Data
came from the 1990 U.S. Census and a sample containing a random
selection of 621 counties in the U.S. (20% from each of the 50 states).
“The Impact of Concentrations of Religious Denominational Affiliations
on the Rate of Currently Divorced in Counties in the United States”
Mullins, L. C., Brackett, K. P., Journal of Family Issues Vol.
27, Number 7. , 2006. Page(s) 976-1000. FindingID: 9236
[iv]
National Survey of Families & Households II: 1992-1994; Subset of 2,785
married men with children age 18 and under at home of a nationally
representative survey of more than 13,000 adults ages nineteen and over.
“Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands”
Wilcox, W. Bradford, Vol. , Number. , 2004. Page(s) 186. FindingID:
6951
[v] Data
came from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being (FFCW) survey, which
followed 4,898 children born between 1998 and 2000 and their parents,
who were mostly unwed at the time of the child’s birth. The FFCW study
is representative of all unwed births in cities with populations larger
than 200,000. The analytical sample consisted of 3,214 fathers who
participated in the baseline survey, at the time of the child’s birth,
and in a follow-up survey one year later. “Religious Participation,
Religious Affiliation, and Engagement with Children among Fathers
Experiencing the Birth of a New Child,” Petts, Richard J. Journal of
Family Issues Vol. 28, Number 9. September , 2007. Page(s)
1139-1161. FindingID: 9141
[vi] Data
came from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being (FFCW) survey, which
followed 4,898 children born between 1998 and 2000 and their parents,
who were mostly unwed at the time of the child’s birth. The FFCW study
is representative of all unwed births in cities with populations larger
than 200,000. The analytical sample consisted of 3,214 fathers who
participated in the baseline survey, at the time of the child’s birth,
and in a follow-up survey one year later. “Religious Participation,
Religious Affiliation, and Engagement with Children among Fathers
Experiencing the Birth of a New Child” Petts, Richard J. Journal of
Family Issues Vol. 28, Number 9. September , 2007. Page(s)
1139-1161. FindingID: 9139
[vii] Data
came from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being (FFCW) survey, which
followed 4,898 children born between 1998 and 2000 and their parents,
who were mostly unwed at the time of the child’s birth. The FFCW study
is representative of all unwed births in cities with populations larger
than 200,000. The analytical sample consisted of 3,214 fathers who
participated in the baseline survey, at the time of the child’s birth,
and in a follow-up survey one year later. “Religious Participation,
Religious Affiliation, and Engagement with Children among Fathers
Experiencing the Birth of a New Child” Petts, Richard J. Journal of
Family Issues Vol. 28, Number 9. September , 2007. Page(s)
1139-1161. FindingID: 9002
[viii] Data
from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K)
regarding parents’ and teachers’ reports on 16,000 kindergärtners and
first-graders, beginning with the 1998-1999 school year. “Religion and
Child Development: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal
Study,” Bartkowski, John P., Xu, Xiaohe and Levin, Martin L. Social
Science Research Vol. NA, Number . , 2007. Page(s) NA. FindingID:
8501
[ix] Data
come from Wave I (1994-1995) and Wave II (1996) of the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (“Add Health”), a nationally
representative survey of 90,000 American adolescents from grades 7 to
12, aged 12 to 17, on average. The analytic sample is a sub-sample,
which consists of 14,027 adolescents who had responded to the “in-home”
section of the survey in Wave II. Fagan, Patrick, A
Portrait of Family and Religion in America: Key Outcomes for the Common
Good,
(Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation 2006), pp. FindingID: 8292
[x] Data
came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class
(ECLS-K) regarding parents’ and teachers’ reports on 16,000
kindergärtners and first-graders, beginning with the 1998-1999 school
year. “Religion and Child Development: Evidence from the Early Childhood
Longitudinal Study,” Bartkowski, John P., Xu, Xiaohe and Levin, Martin
L., Social Science Research Vol. NA, Number . , 2007. Page(s) NA.
FindingID: 8492
[xi] Data
came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class
(ECLS-K) regarding parents’ and teachers’ reports on 16,000
kindergärtners and first-graders, beginning with the 1998-1999 school
year. “Religion and Child Development: Evidence from the Early Childhood
Longitudinal Study,” Bartkowski, John P., Xu, Xiaohe and Levin, Martin
L. Social Science Research Vol. NA, Number . , 2007. Page(s) NA.
FindingID: 8500
[xii] Data
came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class
(ECLS-K) regarding parents’ and teachers’ reports on 16,000
kindergärtners and first-graders, beginning with the 1998-1999 school
year. “Religion and Child Development: Evidence from the Early Childhood
Longitudinal Study,” Bartkowski, John P., Xu, Xiaohe and Levin, Martin
L. Social Science Research Vol. NA, Number . , 2007. Page(s) NA.
FindingID: 8499
[xiii] Data
come from Wave I (1994-1995) and Wave II (1996) of the National
Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (“Add Health”), a nationally
representative survey of 90,000 American adolescents from grades 7 to
12, on average aged 12 to 17. The analytic sample is a sub-sample, which
consists of 14,027 adolescents who had responded to the “in-home”
section of the survey in Wave II. Fagan, Patrick, A
Portrait of Family and Religion in America: Key Outcomes for the Common
Good,
(Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation 2006), pp. FindingID: 8285
[xiv] Phone
survey with a nationally representative sample of 929 young women from
three age cohorts. “Personality, attitudinal and behavioral risk
profiles of young female binge drinkers and smokers” Pirkle, Erin C.,
Richter, Linda, Journal of Adolescent Health Vol. 38, Number . ,
2006. Page(s) 44-54. FindingID: 9389
[xv]
National Education Longitudinal Study--1990, 1992, 1994, and 2000. “The
Cumulative Advantage of Religiosity: A Longitudinal Study of Drug Use”
Jang, Sung Joon; Johnson, Byron R. Proceedings: Heritage Foundation
Conference: Religious Practice and Civic Life: What the Research Says
Vol. NA, Number . September, 2007. Page(s) 2007. FindingID: 9401
[xvi]
The
Only Guarantee of Successful Democracy is a Habit of Self-Restraint by
Joseph Weiler.
Speech given in Vienna, April 26th, ‘06. Excerpts chosen and edited by
the Europe for Christ! Team. For the full version, contact
office@europe4christ.net.
Joseph
H.H. Weiler, born
1951 in Johannesburg,
is Professor of International and European Law at the College d’Europe
in Brugge and Director of Global Law School Program at New York
University School of Law. He is the author of The
Constitution of Europe: Do the New Clothes have an Emperor?
(1999) and A
Christian Europe
(Rizzoli, Milan 2003), amongst many other publications. Joseph Weiler is
Jewish.
[xvii]
God
and Politics: Thoughts on the Democratic Future by George Weigel.
Speech given in Vienna, April 27th, ‘06. Excerpts chosen and edited by
the Europe for Christ! Team. For the full version, contact
office@europe4christ.net.
George
Weigel
is Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and director of
the Catholic Studies program. Well-known author and commentator on
issues of religion and public life.
[xviii] Data
come from the World Values Survey compiled during 1990-1991 from 43
countries. The final sample consisted of 29 countries ranging from 300
to 4,000 cases. “Religion and Civic Culture: A Cross-National Study of
Voluntary Association Membership” Lam, Pui-Yan, Journal for the
Scientific Study of Religion Vol. 45, Number 2. , 2006. Page(s)
177-193. FindingID: 8138
[xix] 2000
Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS), with 3,000
respondents to a national survey and 26,000 respondents to surveys in 40
communities. Brooks, Arthur C., Who
Really Cares: America’s Charity Divide,
(New York: Basic Books 2006), pp. 31-52. FindingID: 8360
[xx] 2000
Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey (SCCBS), with 3,000
respondents to a national survey and 26,000 respondents to surveys in 40
communities. Brooks, Arthur C., Who
Really Cares: America’s Charity Divide,
(New York: Basic Books 2006), pp. 31-52. FindingID: 8359
[xxi]
Russell A. Kirk, from the second in a series of lectures, “Can Our
Civilization Survive?” given at the Heritage Foundation, Washington,
D.C., July 24, 1992, where he was a Distinguished Scholar. “Civilization
Without Religion” was reprinted with permission in Touchstone: A
Journal of Mere Christianity (Winter 1993) and is available at
www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=06-01-005-f.
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