Faith makes good citizens
___WASHINGTON (RNS)--Religiously active people are more likely to be viewed as good citizens and have a more diverse circle of friends than their non-religious neighbors, according to a new study by Harvard University.
___The survey of 3,000 people in 40 communities across the country found that people who are active in religious life are more likely to vote, give blood, be active in their communities, know and trust other people, and socialize with friends and neighbors.
___Americans are also more likely to trust people at their church or synagogue than at their work or in their neighborhood. Seventy-one percent of people said they trust people at their house of worship, compared to 52 percent who trust their co-workers and 31 percent who trust members of their own race.
___The survey also found religious involvement cuts across class lines.
___Poorer, uneducated people are less likely than others to be involved in civic affairs but are just as involved in religious life.
___Still, the "Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey" found religion can be a divisive factor in building a sense of community. The survey said religious people sometimes are seen as intolerant and support efforts to ban controversial books and oppose equal rights measures for homosexuals, for example.
___"For all that faith organizations contribute to community life, organized religion is--and always has been--controversial, especially when it spills out from behind the church door and into the public sphere," said researcher Robert Putnam, author of the landmark "Bowling Alone" social survey. "Religion can heal divisions, to be sure, but it can also exacerbate them."
The Baptist Standard
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