American Idiot

Substance Abuse Research on 1,750 urban and rural high school students found that even after controlling for factors like parental control and support, students with no religious affiliation were vastly more likely to be underage drinkers. Among the non-religious, 98 percent of girls and 92 percent of boys were teen drinkers, and 19 percent of girls and 36 percent of boys were heavy drinkers (defined as four or more alcoholic drinks on two or more occasions each week). Among Protestants attending church at least five times per year, the comparable figures were 55 percent and 72 percent, and just 5 percent (boys and girls both) for heavy drinking. · A study of 2,048 ninth graders in Ontario found that religious behavior was the strongest single discouragement to marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol use. · A major Harvard study of inner-city youth found that those with a “strong religious orientation” were 54 percent less likely to use drugs. · A report from the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reported that religious practice is one of the best predictors of whether a child will stay free of drugs. · Not only does religion keep people away from drugs, it often brings back to sobriety those who stumble. Carl Jung, the pioneering psychiatrist, failed to cure any chronic alcoholics despite years of therapy and eventually concluded that the only escape for serious alcoholics is “a vital spiritual experience” resulting in “huge emotional displacement and rearrangement.” Alcoholics have “a spiritual thirst for wholeness,” he wrote, that cannot be satisfied by therapy, but only by a genuine religious commitment. Recent research has drawn similar conclusions on the importance of spiritual conversion as a path out of addiction. Marriage and Family Life

Decades of academic work show that “in the strongest marriages and families, commitment to God burns bright” (as one research collator put it). A few examples:

· The very lowest risk of divorce today, numerous studies show, is among couples who attend religious services together. Only 7 percent of couples who attend church once a month or more will divorce within five years, according to the U.S. government’s National Survey of Family Growth. The rate is 2 1/2 times higher for couples who attend church just once a year or less. · Across the U.S., the prevalence of divorce is 17 percent among weekly churchgoers, versus 37 percent among couples who claim “no religion.” · Men professing no religion commit adultery more often, and report having far more sex partners. · Sexual satisfaction is higher among religious couples than others. A University of Kentucky study even found that religiously conservative couples tend to share household chores more fairly. Pollster George Gallup summarizes that religious people show up in survey research as “a breed apart.” In particular, “they tend to place greater importance on family life than do less spiritually committed persons.”

Altruism

Another distinguishing characteristic of religious people, Gallup reports, is that they are “far more involved in charitable activities.” His surveys show that 46 percent of the religiously active are involved in voluntary work with poor, elderly, or sick persons, versus just 22 percent of the non-religious. Gallup also finds that “highly spiritually committed” persons “tend to be more tolerant of persons of different races and religions,” and that “they do not turn inward; rather, they are vitally concerned about the betterment of society.”

· Statistics from the charitable clearinghouse Independent Sector show that among people who attend church weekly, 71 percent are volunteers of some sort, to the tune of 3.4 hours per week on average, and that they donate 3.8 percent of their income to others. The comparable figures for people who never attend church: 40 percent volunteer, giving an average of 1.6 hours per week, and 0.8 percent of their income goes to charity. · A major study done for the Girl Scouts of America found that religious youngsters are much likelier than the non-religious to avoid anti-social acts and to engage in altruistic activities. Rich kids who are religious and poor kids who are religious “have far more in common with each other” than religious and non-religious kids in the same socioeconomic group do, according to the study authors. Sexual Behavior

· A large multiple-regression analysis by Tom Smith of the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center found that the most important influence by far on levels of sexual permissiveness among Americans is religiosity. Weekly church attendance sharply reduced incidences of premarital sex, extramarital adultery, and homosexuality, after controlling for other socioeconomic factors. · Researchers at the Urban Institute and elsewhere have found that the single best indicator of delayed sexual activity and avoidance of pregnancy among inner-city teens is membership in a conservative Protestant church. · Various studies show that religious teens are two to seven times as likely to avoid sexual intercourse as non-religious teens. · Marriage rates of young men are higher, and unwed fatherhood is lower, among religious youth. Crime and Delinquency

· Dozens of academic studies show that even after adjustments are made for family influence, neighborhood, race, income, and other factors, religious commitment (particularly church attendance) clearly discourages delinquency among youth. · The National Survey of Families and Households tallied adolescent behavior problems like getting into trouble with the police, being suspended from school, running away from home, or developing emotional problems that require seeing a doctor. And researchers found that in every single family type--two-parent, one-parent, married, unmarried, step families, extended families, adopted families, etc.--parental church involvement is associated with significantly fewer behavior problems. · A sampling of 46,000 sixth- through twelfth-graders showed that those who attend religious services at least once a month are only half as likely to engage in vandalism, substance abuse, drunk driving, and other problem behaviors. · Extensive research by Harvard economist Richard Freeman and associates found that, all other factors being equal, inner-city residents who go to church are 59 percent less likely to commit crimes. (Teens are also far less likely to drop out of school, and adults more likely to hold a job, if they are worshippers.) · Church attendance is a more accurate predictor of criminal behavior than whether an individual lived in public housing, grew up in a single-parent household, or had parents who received welfare. · Churchgoing is the factor that most affects who escapes urban poverty, and is associated with “substantial differences in the behavior of youth…. [It] affects allocation of time, school attendance, work activity, and the frequency of socially deviant activity,” according to a book-length study by the National Bureau of Economic Research. · Investigations show that the religious are less likely to cheat on their taxes. · A survey of 24,000 magazine readers found that many admitted to serious lapses in ethical behavior--more than four out of ten had driven while intoxicated; 38 percent had cheated on their taxes; a third had deceived their best friend about something important within the previous year. Investigators found two clear patterns in these results: Younger respondents were most likely to engage in illegal or unethical behavior. And the more religious people were, the less likely they were to commit these morally questionable acts. · Inmates in prisons who make a religious commitment are less likely to return to jail after their release. · Historical studies by Christie Davies, James Q. Wilson, and others note that society-wide crime decreases often correlate with religious renewals, and that crime increases often take place when religion is falling from favor. Health

· Regular church attenders live longer. Religious belief markedly reduces the incidence of heart attack, arteriosclerosis, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular maladies in particular, as documented in research extending back to a 1972 publication by investigators from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. · A study of Canadian college students found that those involved with Christian campus groups were significantly healthier, made less use of health care services, and scored significantly higher on measures of psychological balance, ability to handle stress, and avoidance of depression--despite being similar to fellow students in other ways. · Elderly patients who are religious are likelier to make successful recoveries from surgery, according to a Dartmouth Medical School study. Happiness

· George Gallup reports that religious people show up in public opinion research as much happier with their lot in life than the non-religious. “A total of 68 percent of the highly spiritually committed say they are ‘very happy,’ compared to 30 percent of the highly uncommitted.” · Overall satisfaction and marital contentment are higher, and depression rates are lower, among the religiously active. · People who pray report a greater sense of well-being than people who do not pray, according to researchers from the University of Akron. · Religious belief and practice can be important tools in rehabilitating refugees who have experienced torture, rape, starvation, and other inhumanity, according to San Francisco psychiatrists who worked with Cambodians who’d arrived in America with mental and physical debilities from traumatic experiences. · Individuals who don’t attend church are four times likelier to commit suicide than those who attend regularly. Locales that have low rates of church membership are consistently higher in suicide rates. Indeed, rates of church attendance predict suicide rates more effectively than any other factor, including unemployment. In addition to religion’s prophylactic effects in fending off destructive influences, there is evidence that religious belief can help individuals reach their very highest levels of potential. Our lead feature story by Charles Murray grows out of his large, multi-year project researching the roots of high achievement. Murray is not a religious fellow, but he is an astute and honest investigator, and discovered that religious conviction turns out to be one of the crucial factors behind extraordinary human accomplishments across the ages.