"It's hard to understand why government officials shy away from public policies that give
religion a prominent role."
Every Sunday morning, the routine is essentially the same: Wake up, make pancakes,
and get dressed for church, all the while hearing the kids complain, "Don't we get a day to
sleep in ?"
Knowing what Duke University researchers have found, I'd be foolish to change our
pattern. In the October International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, they report that
those who attend weekly religious services have healthier immune systems than those
who don't.
"It's the first study ever published. . . that has found an association between religious
activity and immune functioning," says Dr. Harold Koenig, director of Duke's Center for
the Study of Religion/Spirituality and Health.
The study measured blood levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and other substances that
regulate immune and inflammatory responses. High levels of interleukin 6 are found in
patients with AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and depression, among
other things.
In the study, those who attended weekly religious services were about half as likely as
nonattenders to have elevated IL-6.
And immune systems aren't the only thing that function better when people regularly
practice their faith.
To influence political discussion of the role of religion in public life, the Heritage
Foundation recently compiled all the studies it could find on religion's link to health and
social stability. The amount of research conducted over many years, and the
overwhelmingly beneficial impact traced to religion, were amazing.
For example:
* Regular church attendance is the most critical factor in marital stability, regardless
of denomination or doctrinal teaching on divorce. A 1993 survey of 3,300 men found
that those who switch partners most are those with no religious convictions. Similarly,
the rate of cohabitation before marriage is seven times higher among people who seldom
or never attend religious services, a significant finding since couples who live together
before marriage experience higher rates of divorce.
* Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found cardiovascular disease
significantly reduced by a lifetime of church attendance. Numerous other studies confirm
that churchgoers live longer, with lower rates of cirrhosis, emphysema, and
arteriosclerosis.
* Blood pressure is reduced an average of 5 mm of pressure by regular church
attendance, 6 mm for people over 55. "Given that reducing blood pressure by 2 to 4 mm
also reduces the mortality rate by 10 to 20 percent for any given population, a reduction
of 5 mm is a very significant public-health achievement," says Patrick Fagan, who wrote
the Heritage Foundation report.
* Religious involvement greatly decreases drug use, delinquency, and premarital sex,
and increases self-control for all age groups. In a 1985 study of girls, 9 to 17, less than 10
percent of those who attended religious services weekly reported drug or alcohol use,
compared to 38 percent overall.
Even economics may be affected by religious practice. Of youth who grew up in
poverty in the 1970s and '80s, those who attended church weekly had significantly higher
family incomes as adults-an average $12,600 higher than their nonchurchgoing peers.
The data based on the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, showed a positive
impact from religion on children who grew up both in intact families and broken homes.
Public Policy Impact
With such data available, it's hard to understand why government officials shy away
from public policies that give religion a prominent role.
Although the constitutional separation of church and state is usually blamed, former
U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett, former Congressman Jack Kemp, and others say it
is possible to use religion as a powerful force for good in the inner city without violating
the First Amendment.
In Indianapolis, Mayor Stephen Goldsmith has contracted with churches to run
summer programs for kids and manage city parks. The city puts signs in each of the
parks with the name and phone number of the church and pastor. Such programs need to
be expanded.
In his new book, The Twenty-First Century City, Goldsmith says public officials
should use their bully pulpit to "celebrate and encourage religious commitment without
favoring one tradition over another."
Bennett, Kemp, and Goldsmith are right. The evidence is simply too powerful to
ignore.
By getting more people to the church, synagogue, or mosque of their choice, we just
might bring down the country's unparalleled rates of divorce, crime, unwed pregnancy,
and drug addiction, as well as strengthen our immunity.
Surely that's worth waking up for on Sunday- if the pancakes aren't reason enough.
This Article Appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, March/April, 1998
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