Religion Healthy for Families

Religion is dangerous to society, right? Well, it depends on whether there is freedom of religion. Evidence is clear that freely religious families benefit in nearly every way over those who are less religious. Why don't we tout that more regularly in public life?

There is a great misnomer in the world today--the claim that religion is detrimental to society. After all, religion has been behind nearly all of the wars in history, right? Well, actually...no. With the exception of current Islamic Fundamentalists, in distant history, despots who have hijacked religion have caused a lot of problems, but in more recent memory, the furthest things from religion--Communism and Nazism--caused more deaths than probably all previous wars combined.

Evidence today is clear that among those nations where freedom of religious practice is the norm, religion is of great benefit to society. Even where certain forms of religion are prescribed, such as in the Middle East, it has an overall benefit.

A recent study on the effects of religion indicated, among other things, the following:

• Religious couples are much more likely to stay together
• Religious fathers are much more praising of the skills and traits of their sons and daughters
• Religious mothers have much more enduring and mature relationships with their children
• Religious people have a much greater sense of well-being and purpose
• Religious husbands are much less likely to commit domestic violence
  

Religion often gets a bad rap. Sometimes religious people either are or appear a bit pompous. But the truth is, religion is a great benefit to society. It would be hard for even non-religious people to counteract the evidence.