We'll Miss It When It's Gone

Graph from https://allisonkyff.domains.trincoll.edu/

Related to last Sunday's post ("A Progressive Sees the Social Benefits of Religion"): a "growing body of research" covering many thousands of people showed religiosity is correlated with good mental health.

“There is a mounting body of empirical evidence suggesting that people who are active in their faith tend to be the recipients of a number of important physical and mental-health benefits,” says Byron Johnson, professor of social sciences at Baylor University.

Believing in a higher power can foster a sense of connection, research has shown. Helping others, which many religions facilitate through organized-outreach programs, builds compassion, which psychologists have found can improve mental health.

Now that religion is on the wane its societal benefits have become more obvious, even to social scientists who are not religious advocates. Let's hope that it's not too late for organized religion to escape its own "doom loop."