According to a new study.
From Mike Gerson's column:
Against the expectations of hard-core secularists, Putnam asserts, "religious Americans are nicer, happier and better citizens." They are more generous with their time and money, not only in giving to religious causes but to secular ones. They join more voluntary associations, attend more public meetings, even let people cut in line in front of them more readily. Religious Americans are three to four times more socially engaged than the unaffiliated. Ned Flanders is a better neighbor.
This doesn't really surprise me at all. Regardless of church affiliation, the people who want to run the P.T.A. and the Girl Scouts tend to be the people running the church bake sale. The big question is why?
Columnist E.J. Dionne wonders whether this has more to do with joiners wanting to join stuff, or if the religious component is most important. Indeed, the interesting wrinkle of the study is that it seems to be important that people attend church, not which church they attend. So, whether you are Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, or Jewish, you're more likely to nicer than people who don't do these things.
It certainly makes a correlation vs. causation argument, and the authors of Amazing Grace can't really answer it. My best guess would be that religious people tend to be nicer and more civic minded because their personal happiness spurs them to action. Not to mention that most churches have some sort of encouragement to help the poor and less fortunate.
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