THE NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE EFFECTS OF RELIGION

Michie · Apr 29, 2024

In the early 20th century, the influential writings of Sigmund Freud and Friedrich Nietzsche both focused on their perception of religion as a neurosis or “sickness.” Karl Marx’s dictum, “Religion is the opium of the people,” became well known in the 1930s when Marxism became popular. Currently, “religion” is viewed as divisive and often associated with conflict, war, and fanaticism.

The reality is quite different.

Religion: Opiate or Optimizer?

Duke University professor Dr. Harold Koenig and colleagues analyzed hundreds of 21st-century scientific studies examining the relationship between religion and health. Their analysis appears in their 2012 Handbook of Religion and Health:

Religion is positively associated with life satisfaction, happiness and morale in 175 of 224 studies (78%). Furthermore, religion is positively associated with self-rated health in 27 of 48 studies (56%), with lower rates of coronary heart disease in 12 of 19 studies (63%) and with fewer signs of psychoticism (“characterized by risk taking and lack of responsibility”) in 16 of 19 studies (84%).

More recently, a 2019 Pew Research studyexamined the relationship of religion to happiness, civic engagement, and health across the populations of thirty-five countries. The study was interested in knowing if affiliation (inactives), participation (actives), or non-affiliation mattered when comparing eight indicators of both individual and societal well-being. These indicators included five individual health measures, two measures of civic participation, and self-reported levels of happiness. The data was collected in international surveys over a ten-year period.

Researchers reported some surprising correlations.

Actively religious adults are more likely to vote, participate in non-religious volunteer organizations, and seemingly have more “social capital” than their inactive or non-affiliated counterparts.

The friendship networks fostered by religious communities create an asset that Putnam and other scholars call “social capital”—which not only makes people happier by giving them a sense of purpose and belonging, but also makes it easier for them to find jobs and build wealth. In other words, those who frequently attend a house of worship may have more people they can rely on for information and help during both good and bad times. —Pew Research Center

The relationship of religion to individual health measures, however, varied both positively and negatively, but overall, there was little difference between the three groups.

Taking a Closer Look: Negative Effects of Religion

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