[1] The author wishes to draw special
attention to the major initial source of information on the
research done on religion in the social and medical sciences: David
B. Larson and Susan S. Larson, "The Forgotten Factor in Physical
and Mental Health: What Does the Research Show?" (Rockville, Md.:
National Institute for Healthcare Research, 1994). David Larson is
one of the premier researchers in the field and serves as president
of the National Institute for Healthcare Research, as well as
adjunct faculty member at the Northwestern University and Duke
University Medical Schools.
[2] Office of the Press Secretary, The White
House, "Remarks by the President on Religious Liberty in America at
James Madison High School, Vienna, Virginia, July 12, 1995."
[3] Paul Johnson, "God and the Americans,"
Commentary, January 1995, pp. 25-45.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Kenneth L. Woodward et al.,
"Talking to God," Newsweek, January 6, 1992, pp. 39ff.
[6] Many studies cited herein are 10-20
years old. The need to go back so far reflects the paucity of
serious research in the area of religion relative to studies in the
other four major institutions: family, education, the economy, and
government. In the author's opinion, it also reflects the tension
between religion and the social sciences. See "religion and the
Social Sciences," infra.
[7] Throughout this study, "church" and
"churchgoer" are used in the generic sense to indicate church,
synagogue, or any other place of worship and an individual
attending any such institution.
[8] For social scientists, a "systematic
review" is one in which the robustness of the research method is
weighted when assessing the quality of the findings reported. Thus,
systematic reviews are the most useful way to assess the scientific
literature and provide a valid guide to the findings in a
particular field.
[9] Jeff S. Levin and Harold Y. Vanderpool,
"Is Frequent Religious Attendance Really Conducive to Better
Health?: Towards an Epidemiology of religion," Social Science
Medicine, Vol. 24 (1987), pp. 589-600; David B. Larson, Kim A.
Sherrill, John S. Lyons, Fred C. Craigie, S. B. Thielman, M. A.
Greenwold, and Susan S. Larson, "Dimensions and Valences of
Measures of Religious Commitment Found in the American Journal of
Psychiatry and the Archives of General Psychiatry: 1978 through
1989," American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 149 (1978), pp.
557-559; Fred C. Craigie, Jr., David B. Larson, and Ingrid Y. Liu,
"References to religion in The Journal of family Practice:
Dimensions and Valence of Spirituality," The Journal of family
Practice, Vol. 30 (1990), pp. 477-480.
[10] See "Religion and the Social
Sciences," infra, on the differences between intrinsic and
extrinsic religious practice.
[11] Thomas Skill, James D. Robinson, John
S. Lyons, and David Larson, "The Portrayal of religion and
Spirituality on Fictional Network Television," Review of
Religious Research, Vol. 35, No. 3 (March 1994), pp.
251-267.
[12] Allen E. Bergin, "Values and Religious
issues in Psychotherapy and Mental Health," The American
Psychologist, Vol. 46 (1991), pp. 394-403, esp. p. 401.
Professor Bergin received the American Psychological Association's
top award in 1990.
[13] William Raspberry: "Christmas Without
Meaning? Must the Religious Make a Secret of Their Beliefs?" The
Washington Post, December 24, 1993, p. A15.
[14] David B. Larson, Susan S. Larson, and
John Gartner, "Families, Relationships and Health," in Behavior
and Medicine, ed. Danny Wedding (Baltimore: Mosby Year Book
Inc., 1990), pp. 135-147.
[15] The Politics of Aristotle,
trans. Ernest Barker (New York: Oxford University Press, 1958),
Book VIII, "Political Ideal and Educational Principles," Chapters
1, 2, and 3, "The Highest Goal," pp. 279-289.
[16] B. Beit-Hallami, "Psychology of
religion 1880-1939: The Rise and Fall of a Psychological Movement,"
Journal of the history of the Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 10
(1974), pp. 84-90.
[17] Harsha N. Mookherjee, "Effects of
Religiosity and Selected Variables on the Perception of
Well-Being," The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 134, No.
3 (June 1994), pp. 403-405, reporting on a national sample General
Social Survey of 1,481 adults aged 18-89.
[18] Larson and Larson, "The Forgotten
Factor in Physical and Mental Health," p. 76.
[19] David O. Moberg, "The Development of
Social Indicators of Spiritual Well-Being for Quality of Life
Research," in Spiritual Well-Being: Sociological
Perspectives, ed. David O. Moberg (Washington, D.C.: University
Press of America, 1979).
[20] Rodney Stark: "Psychopathology and
Religious Commitment," Review of Religious Research, Vol. 12
(1971), pp. 165-176.
[21] R. W. Williams, D. B. Larson, R. E.
Buckler, R. C. Heckman, and C. M. Pyle, "religion and Psychological
Distress in a Community Sample," Social Science Medicine,
Vol. 32 (1991), pp. 1257-1262.
[22] Ibid.
[23] David B. Larson and Susan S. Larson,
"Does Religious Commitment Make a Clinical Difference in Health?"
Second Opinion, Vol. 17 (July 1991), pp. 26-40.
[24] William V. D'Antonio: "The family and
religion: Exploring a Changing Relationship," Journal for the
Scientific Study of religion," Vol. 19 (1980), pp. 89-104.
[25] Darwin L. Thomas and Gwendolyn C.
Henry, "The religion and family Connection: Increasing Dialogue in
the Social Sciences," Journal of marriage and the family,
Vol. 47 (May 1985), pp. 369-370.
[26] Ibid.
[27] Howard M. Bahr and Bruce A. Chadwick,
"religion and family in Middletown, USA," Journal of marriage
and the family, Vol. 47 (May 1985), pp. 407-414.
[28] Arland Thornton and Donald Camburn,
"Religious Participation and Adolescent Sexual Behavior and
Attitudes," Journal of marriage and the family, Vol. 51
(August 1989), pp. 641-653.
[29] Research and Forecasts Inc., The
Connecticut Mutual Life Report on American Values in the 1980's
(Hartford: Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., 1981).
[30] C. E. Kennedy, Janet Cleveland, and
Walter Schumm, "family Commitment and Religious Commitment:
Parallel Processes," (Manhattan, Kan.: Department of family and
Child Development, Kansas State University, 1983).
[31] Nick Stinnet, G. Saunders, John
DeFrain, and A. Parkhurst. "A Nationwide Study of Families Who
Perceive Themselves as Strong," family Perspectives, Vol. 16
(1982), pp. 15-22.
[32] Velma McBride Murry, "Incidence of
First Pregnancy Among Black Adolescent Females Over Three Decades,"
Youth & Society, Vol. 23, No. 4 (June 1992), pp.
478-506, esp. p. 483.
[33] Larson, Larson, and Gartner,
"Families, Relationships and Health."
[34] See, for example, G. Burchinal,
"Marital Satisfaction and Religious Behavior," American
Sociological Review, Vol. 22 (January 1957), pp. 306-310.
[35] C. Tavris and S. Sadd, The Redbook
Report on Female Sexuality (New York: Delacorte Press,
1977).
[36] Robert T. Michael, John H. Gagnon,
Edward O. Laumann, and Gina Kolata, Sex in America: A Definitive
Survey (Boston: Little Brown 1995), Chapter 6.
[37] Wesley Shrum, "religion and Marital
Instability: Change in the 1970s?" Review of Religious
Research, Vol. 21 (1980), pp. 135-147.
[38] David B. Larson: "Religious
Involvement," in family Building, ed. G. E. Rekers (Ventura,
Cal.: Regal, 1985), pp. 121-147.
[39] J. O. Billy, K. Tanfer, W. R. Grady,
and D. H. Klepinger, "The Sexual Behavior of Men in the United
States," family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 25 (1993), pp.
52-60.
[40] Larry L. Bumpass, James A. Sweet, and
Andrew Cherlin, "The Role of Cohabitation in Declining Rates of
marriage," NSFH Working Paper No. 5, Center for Demography and
Ecology, University of Wisconsin, 1989.
[41] National Institute of Healthcare
Research May 1993 summary of: A. Thorton, W. Axxinn, and D. Hill,
"Reciprocal Effects of Religiosity, Cohabitation, and marriage,"
American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 98 (1992), pp.
628-651.
[42] Allan C. Carlson, "religion and the
family: The Troubled and Enduring Bond," The family in
America, Vol. 2 (January 1988), p. 7.
[43] B. Schlesinger, "Functioning Families:
Focus of the 1980s," family Perspectives, Vol. 16 (1982),
pp. 111-116.
[44] Patrick F. Fagan, "The Real Root
Causes of crime: The Breakdown of marriage, family, and Community,"
Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1026, March 17,
1995.
[45] Patrick F. Fagan, "Rising
Illegitimacy: America's Social Catastrophe," Heritage Foundation
F.Y.I. No. 19, June 1994. Robert Rector, "Combating family
Disintegration, crime, and Dependence: welfare Reform and Beyond,"
Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 983, April 1994.
[46] Robert Rector, "Combatting family
Disintegration, crime, and Dependence: welfare Reform and Beyond,"
Heritage Foundation Backgrounder No. 1026, March 17,
1995.
[47] George W. Comstock and Kay B.
Partridge, "Church Attendance and Health," Journal of Chronic
Disease, Vol. 25 (1972), pp. 665-672.
[48] D. M. Zuckerman, S.V. Kasl, and A. M.
Osterfield, "Psychosocial Predictors of Mortality Among the Elderly
Poor," American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 119 (1984),
pp. 410-423.
[49] For instance, J. S. House, C. Robins,
and H. L. Metzner, "The Association of Social Relationships and
Activities with Mortality: Prospective Evidence from the Tecumseh
Community Health Study," American Journal of Epidemiology,
Vol. 114 (1984), p. 129.
[50] David B. Larson, H. G. Koenig, B. H.
Kaplan, R. S. Greenberg, E. Logue, and H. A. Tyroler, "The Impact
of religion on Men's Blood Pressure," Journal of religion and
Health, Vol. 28 (1989), pp. 265-278.
[51] W. T. Maramot, "Diet, Hypertension and
Stroke," in Nutrition and Health, ed. M. R. Turner (New
York: Alan R. Liss, 1982), p. 243.
[52] Ibid.
[53] J. S. Levin and P. L. Schiller, "Is
There a Religious Factor in Health?" Journal of religion and
Health, Vol. 26 (1987), pp. 9-35.
[54] The 1984 and 1987 General Social
Surveys conducted by the National Opinion Research Center, which
included questions on religious commitment and health.
[55] K. F. Ferraro and C. M.
Albrecht-Jensen, "Does religion Influence Adult Health?" Journal
for the Scientific Study of religion, Vol. 30 (1991), pp.
193-202.
[56] R. B. Byrd, "Positive Therapeutic
Effects of Intercessory Prayer in a Coronary Care Unit Population,"
Southern Medical Journal, Vol. 75 (1982), pp.
1166-1168.
[57] Fagan, "Rising Illegitimacy: America's
Social Catastrophe," and U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, Report to Congress on Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing,
September 1995, esp. chapter on "The Consequences of Nonmarital
Childbearing for Women, Children and Society" by Sarah
McLanahan.
[58] Louis Harris and Associates, Inc.,
American Teens Speak: Sex, Myths, TV, and Birth Control,
Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., 1986; Thornton and
Camburn, "Religious Participation and Adolescent Sexual Behavior
and Attitudes."
[59] Murry, "Incidence of First Pregnancy
Among Black Adolescent Females Over Three Decades."
[60] Monthly Vital Statistics
Report, Vol. 44, No. 3 (September 21, 1995), DHHS/CDC/NCHS,
Table 15.
[61] Bernard Spilka, Ralph W. Hood, and
Richard L. Gorsuch, The Psychology of religion: An Empirical
Approach (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1985); Cheryl
D. Hayes, ed., "Risking the Future: Adolescent Sexuality, Pregnancy
and Childbearing," Vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: National Academic
Press, 1987); Michael J. Donahue, "Aggregate Religiousness and
Teenage Fertility Revisited: Reanalyses of Data from the Guttmacher
Institute," paper presented at Society for the Scientific Study of
religion, Chicago, Illinois, October 1988; Catherine S. Chilman,
"Adolescent Sexuality in a Changing American Society: Social and
Psychological Perspectives," NIH Publication No. 80-1426
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980).
[62] The following studies are cited in
Scott H. Beck, Bettie S. Cole, and Judith A. Hammond, "Religious
Heritage and Premarital Sex: Evidence from a National Sample of
Young Adults," Journal for the Scientific Study of religion,
Vol. 30, No. 2 (1991), pp. 173-180: H. T. Christensen and L. B.
Johnson, "Premarital Coitus and the Southern Black: A Comparative
View," Journal of marriage and the family, Vol. 40 (1978),
pp. 721-731; Stephen R. Jorgensen and Janet S. Sonstegard,
"Predicting Adolescent Sexual and Contraceptive Behavior: An
Application and Test of the Fishbein Model," Journal of marriage
and the family, Vol. 46 (1984), pp. 43-55; F. L. Mott, "The
Patterning of Female Teenage Sexual Behaviors and Attitudes," paper
presented at 1983 Annual Meeting of the American Public Health
Association, Dallas, Texas, November 1983; and J. M. Studer and A.
Thornton, "Adolescent Religiosity and Contraceptive Usage,"
Journal of marriage and the family, Vol. 47 (1985), pp.
381-395.
[63] Beck et al., "Religious
Heritage and Premarital Sex: Evidence from a National Sample of
Young Adults."
[64] Donahue, "Aggregate Religiousness and
Teenage Fertility Revisited: Reanalyses of Data from the Guttmacher
Institute."
[65] Brent C. Miller, Robert Higginson, J.
Kelly McCoy, and Terrance D. Olson, "family Configuration and
Adolescent Sexual Attitudes and Behavior," Population and
Environment, Vol. 9 (1987), pp. 111-123.
[66] Elise F. Jones et al., "Teenage
Pregnancy in Developed Countries: Determinants and Policy
Implications," family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 17, No. 2
(March/April 1985), pp. 53-63.
[67] Arland D. Thorton, "family and
Institutional Factors in Adolescent Sexuality," found in HHS/Public
Health Service, "Summaries of Completed Adolescent family Life
Research Projects on Adolescent Sexual Behavior," a 1991 internal
staff summary of HHS-funded research projects.
[68] See, for example, Brian C. Martinson
and Larry L. Bumpass, "The Impact of family Background on
Premarital Births among Women under 30 in the United States," NSFH
Working Paper No. 9, Center for Demography and Ecology, University
of Wisconsin, April 1990.
[69] S. Newcomer and J. R. Undry, "Parental
Marital Status Effects on Adolescent Sexual Behavior," Journal
of marriage and the family, Vol. 49 (1987), pp. 235-240.
[70] For example, Thornton and Camburn,
"Religious Participation and Adolescent Sexual Behavior and
Attitudes."
[71] This study, "Fertility Appreciation
for Families," involved a matched control design. Unpublished but
peer reviewed, it is available from family of the Americas, P.O.
Box 1170, Dunkirk, Maryland 20754.
[72] David Lester, "Religiosity and
Personal Violence: A Regional Analysis of Suicide and Homicide
Rates," The Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 127, No. 6
(December 1987), pp. 685-686.
[73] John Rohrbaugh and Richard Jessor,
Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado,
"Religiosity in Youth: A Personal Control Against Deviant
Behavior," Journal of Personality, Vol. 43, No. 1 (1975),
pp. 136-155.
[74] John K. Cochran, "Another Look at
Delinquency and Religiosity," Sociological Spectrum, Vol. 9,
No. 2 (1989), pp. 147-162.
[75] Avtar Singh, "Note: Religious
Involvement and Anti-Social Behavior," Perceptual and Motor
Skills, Vol. 48 (1979), pp. 1157-1158.
[76] For instance, see Lee Ellis,
"Religiosity and Criminality from the Perspective of Arousal
Theory," Journal of Research in crime and Delinquency, Vol.
24, No. 3 (August 1987), pp. 215-232.
[77] John Gartner, David B. Larson, and
George Allen, "Religious Commitment and Mental Health: A Review of
the Empirical Literature," Journal of Psychology and
Theology, Vol. 19 (1991), pp. 6-25.
[78] Beit-Hallami, "Psychology of religion
1880-1939," pp. 84-90.
[79] Naida M. Parson and James K. Mikawa,
"Incarceration and Nonincarceration of African-American Men Raised
in Black Christian Churches," The Journal of Psychology,
Vol. 125 (1990), pp. 163-173.
[80] Richard B. Freeman, "Who Escapes? The
Relation of Church-Going and Other Background Factors to the
Socio-Economic Performance of Black Male Youths from Inner-City
poverty Tracts," Working Paper Series No. 1656, National Bureau of
Economic Research, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985.
[81] Ranald Jarrell, Department of
Education, Arizona State University West, personal communication,
October 1995.
[82] Analysis of NLSY data by Heritage
Foundation analyst Christine Olson.
[83] Fagan, "Rising Illegitimacy: America's
Social Catastrophe," p. 5.
[84] Given the significance of these
findings, which are now over 10 years old, it is telling that no
further research seems to have been conducted along these lines by
the welfare interest group in academia. In the business field,
there is considerable anecdotal literature of the testimonial genre
which recounts the effect of religious belief or conversion on work
capacity and outcomes; in the academic literature, however, there
seems to be little or none. See "religion and the Social Sciences,"
infra.
[85] Achaempong Yaw Amoateng and Stephen J.
Bahr, "religion, family, and Adolescent Drug Use," Sociological
Perspectives, Vol. 29 (1986), pp. 53-73, and John K. Cochran,
Leonard Beghley, and E. Wilbur Block, "Religiosity and Alcohol
Behavior: An Exploration of Reference Group Therapy,"
Sociological Forum, Vol. 3 (1988), pp. 256-276.
[86] Amoateng and Bahr, "religion, family,
and Adolescent Drug Use."
[87] Gartner, Larson, and Allen, "Religious
Commitment and Mental Health: A Review of the Empirical
Literature"; Steven R. Burkett and Mervin White, "Hellfire and
Delinquency: Another Look," Journal for the Scientific Study of
religion, Vol. 13 (1974), pp. 455-462; Deborah Hasin, Jean
Endicott, and Collins Lewis, "Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Patients
with Affective Syndromes," Comprehensive Psychiatry, Vol. 26
(1985), pp. 283-295.
[88] David B. Larson and William P. Wilson:
"Religious Life of Alcoholics," Southern Medical Journal,
Vol. 73 (1980), pp. 723-727.
[89] Ibid.
[90] Robert H. Coombs, David K. Wellisch,
and Fawzy I. Fawzy, "Drinking Patterns and Problems among Female
Children and Adolescents: A Comparison of Abstainers, Past Users
and Current Users," American Journal of Drug and Alcohol
Abuse, Vol. 11 (1985), pp. 315-348.
[91] Barbara R. Lorch and Robert H. Hughes,
"religion and Youth Substance Use," Journal of religion and
Health, Vol. 24 (1985), pp. 197-208.
[92] Amoateng and Bahr, "religion, family,
and Adolescent Drug Use."
[93] Lorch and Hughes, "religion and Youth
Substance Use."
[94] Coombs, Wellisch, and Fawzy, "Drinking
Patterns and Problems among Female Children and Adolescents: A
Comparison of Abstainers, Past Users and Current Users."
[95] Orville S. Walters, "The Religious
Background of Fifty Alcoholics," Quarterly Journal of Studies on
Alcohol, Vol. 18 (1957), pp. 405-413.
[96] F. Lemere, "What Happens to
Alcoholics?" American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 22 (1953),
pp. 674-676.
[97] Walters, "The Religious Background of
Fifty Alcoholics."
[98] H. M. Tiebaut, "Psychological Factors
Operating in Alcoholics Anonymous," in Current Therapies of
Personality Disorders, ed. B. Glueck (New York: Grune and
Stratton, 1946).
[99] Larson and Larson, "The Forgotten
Factor in Physical and Mental Health," p. 71.
[100] Richard L. Gorsuch and M. C. Butler,
"Initial Drug Abuse: A View of Predisposing Social Psychological
Factors," Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 3 (1976), pp.
120-137.
[101] For example, Ron D. Hays, Alan W.
Stacy, Keith F. Widaman, M. Robin DiMatteo, and Ralph Downey,
"Multistage Path Models of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use: A
Reanalysis," Journal of Drug issues, Vol. 16 (1986), pp.
357-369; Hasin, Endicott, and Lewis, "Alcohol and Drug Abuse in
Patients with Affective Syndromes"; Steven R. Burkett, "religion,
Parental Influence and Adolescent Alcohol and Marijuana Use,"
Journal of Drug issues, Vol. 7 (1977), pp. 263-273; Lorch
and Hughes, "religion and Youth Substance Use"; and Edward M. Adalf
and Reginald G. Smart, "Drug Use and Religious Affiliation,
Feelings and Behavior," British Journal of Addiction, Vol.
80 (1985), pp. 163-171.
[102] Adalf and Smart, "Drug Use and
Religious Affiliation, Feelings and Behavior."
[103] Jerald G. Bachman, Lloyd D. Johnson,
and Patrick M. O'Malley, "Explaining the Recent Decline in Cocaine
Use Among Young Adults: Further Evidence That Perceived Risks and
Disapproval Lead to Reduced Drug Use," Journal of Health and
Social Behavior, Vol. 31 (1990), pp. 173-184, and Hasin,
Endicott, and Lewis, "Alcohol and Drug Abuse in Patients With
Affective Syndromes." The findings of this NIMH-supported study
were replicated in the above-cited study by Bachman, Johnson, and
O'Malley.
[104] Adalf and Smart, "Drug Use and
Religious Affiliation, Feelings and Behavior."
[105] M. Daum and M. A. Lavenhar,
"Religiosity and Drug Use," National Institute of Drug Abuse, DHEW
Publication No. (ADM) 80-939, 1980.
[106] Louis A. Cancellaro, David B.
Larson, and William P. Wilson, "Religious Life of Narcotics
Addicts," Southern Medical Journal, Vol. 75, No. 10 (October
1992), pp. 1166-1168.
[107] John Muffler, John Langrod, and
David Larson, "'There Is a Balm in Gilead': religion and Substance
Abuse Rehabilitation," in Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive
Textbook, ed. J. H. Lowinson, P. Ruiz, et al. (Baltimore, Md.:
Williams and Wilkins, 1992), pp. 584-595.
[108] Charles E. Joubert, "Religious
Nonaffiliation in Relation to Suicide, Murder, Rape, and
Illegitimacy," Psychological Reports, Vol. 75, No. 1, Part 1
(1994), p. 10, and Jon W. Hoelter, "Religiosity, Fear of Death and
Suicide Acceptability," Suicide and Life Threatening
Behavior, Vol. 9 (1979), pp. 163-172.
[109] William T. Martin, "Religiosity and
United States Suicide Rates, 1972-1978," Journal of Clinical
Psychology, Vol. 40 (1984), pp. 1166-1169.
[110] Steven Stack, "The Effect of
Domestic-Religious Individualism on Suicide, 1954-1978," Journal
of marriage and the family, Vol. 47 (1985), pp. 431-447.
[111] Steven Stack, "The Effect of the
Decline in Institutionalized religion on Suicide, 1954-1978,"
Journal for the Scientific Study of religion, Vol. 22
(1983), pp. 239-252.
[112] Lester, "Religiosity and Personal
Violence: A Regional Analysis of Suicide and Homicide Rates."
[113] Steven Stack: "The Effects of
Religious Commitment on Suicide: A Cross-National Analysis,"
Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 24 (1983), pp.
362-374.
[114] Williams, Larson, Buckler, Heckman,
and Pyle, "religion and Psychological Distress in a Community
Sample," pp. 1257-1262. Religious commitment also had other
benefits. Not only were members of the group less depressed, but
they could walk a greater distance at discharge than those without
religious beliefs and practices. See Peter Pressman, John S. Lyons,
David B. Larson, and James J. Strain, "Religious Belief, Depression
and Ambulation Status in Elderly Women with Broken Hips,"
American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 147 (1990), pp.
758-760.
[115] Loyd S. Wright, Christopher J.
Frost, and Stephen J. Wisecarver, "Church Attendance,
Meaningfulness of religion on, and Depressive Symptomology Among
Adolescents," Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 22, No.
5 (1993), pp. 559-568.
[116] Fagan, "The Real Root Causes of
crime: The Breakdown of marriage, family, and Community."
[117] Stark, "Psychopathology and
Religious Commitment."
[118] Clyde C. Mayo, Herbert B. Puryear,
and Herbert G. Richek, "MMPI Correlates of Religiousness in Late
Adolescent College Students," Journal of Nervous and Mental
Disease, Vol. 149 (November 1969), pp. 381-385. These findings
do not hold for "ego strength." (However, refer to the section on
measurements, where this particular finding will be looked at
again.)
[119] Peter L. Bensen and Bernard P.
Spilka, "God-Image as a Function of Self-Esteem and Locus of
Control" in Current Perspectives in the Psychology of
religion, ed. H. N. Maloney (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans,
1977), pp. 209-224.
[120] Carl Jung: "Psychotherapies on the
Clergy," in Collected Works, Vol. 2 (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1969), pp. 327-347.
[121] Walters, "The Religious Background
of Fifty Alcoholics."
[122] Larson and Larson, "The Forgotten
Factor in Physical and Mental Health," p. 87.
[123] Gordon W. Allport, "The Person in
Psychology: Selected Essays" (Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, 1968),
p. 150.
[124] R. D. Kahoe, "Personality and
Achievement Correlates on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious
Orientations," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Vol. 29 (1974), pp. 812-818.
[125] Ken F. Wiebe and J. Roland Fleck,
"Personality Correlates of Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Non-Religious
Orientations," Journal of Psychology, Vol. 105 (1980), pp.
111-117.
[126] Michael J. Donahue, "Intrinsic and
Extrinsic Religiousness: Review and Meta-Analysis," Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 48 (1985), pp.
400-419.
[127] Ibid.
[128] Allen E. Bergin, K. S. Masters, and
P. Scott Richards, "Religiousness and Mental Health Reconsidered: A
Study of an Intrinsically Religious Sample," Journal of
Counseling Psychology, Vol. 34 (1987), pp. 197-204.
[129] M. Baker and R. Gorsuch, "Trait
Anxiety and Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religiousness," Journal for the
Scientific Study of religion, Vol. 21 (1982), pp. 119-122, and
Gordon W. Allport and J. Michael Ross, "Personal Religious
Orientation and Prejudice," Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology Vol. 5 (1967), pp. 432-443.
[130] Kahoe, Personality and Achievement
Correlates on Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientations."
[131] Wiebe and Fleck, "Personality
Correlates of Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Non-Religious
Orientations."
[132] Bergin, Masters, and Richards,
"Religiousness and Mental Health Reconsidered: A Study of an
Intrinsically Religious Sample."
[133] Ann M. Downey, "Relationships of
Religiosity to Death Anxiety of Middle-Aged Males,"
Psychological Reports, Vol. 54 (1984), pp. 811-822.
[134] The benefit of the intrinsic
practice of religion certainly be obvious to most ordinary
Americans. But in research results, many of the deleterious effects
of the extrinsic practice of religion wipe out many of the benefits
of intrinsic practice when adherents of both are mixed together in
the same piece of research. Most religious research to date does
not measure or differentiate between intrinsic and extrinsic
practice of religion. Despite this shortcoming, the studies cited
up to now do not distinguish between these types of religious
practice, yet show a very positive outcome. This poses a number of
important research issues, chief among them whether this is because
there are only a few extrinsics among those who go to church most
frequently. For researchers and those who commission research,
there is an obvious need to measure whether the person's practice
of religion, when it is present, is more intrinsic or extrinsic.
Fortunately, a simple validated scale has been developed to measure
the person's religious motivation. See Dean R. Hoge, "A Validated
Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale," Journal for Scientific
Study of religion, Vol. 11 (1972), pp. 369-376.
[135] In the view of this author, that
tension arises from the effort of the social sciences to contain
religion within the canons of the social sciences. However the
canons of religion transcend these canons, and therefore cannot be
reduced to the dimensions of any of the social sciences, though
every social science can describe some facets of religious
behavior.
[136] Thomas and Henry, "The religion and
family Connection: Increasing Dialogue in the Social
Sciences."
[137] The Gallup survey (religion in
America 1985) continues to indicate that religious commitment is
avowed by one-third of Americans as the most important dimension in
their lives and that, for another third, religion is considered to
be very important (but not the single most dominant) factor.
religion in America: The Gallup Report, Report No. 236, 1985
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton religion Research Center, 1985) quoted
in Alan E. Bergin and Jay P. Stevens, "Religiosity of
Psychotherapists: A National Survey," Psychotherapy, Vol. 27
(1990), pp. 3-7.
[138] Stephen L. Carter, The Culture of
Disbelief (New York: Anchor Books, 1994), pp. 6-7.
[139] Larson and Larson, "The Forgotten
Factor in Physical and Mental Health."
[140] Patrick McNamara, "The New rights
View of the family and Its Social Science Critics: A Study in
Differing Presuppositions," Journal of marriage and the
family, Vol. 47 (1985), pp. 449-458.
[141] Ibid.
[142] religion in America.
[143] Henry Steele Commager, ed.,
Documents of American History, 9th ed. (NJ: Prentice Hall,
1973), p. 175.
[144] George Washington, Farewell Address,
September 19, 1796, in George Washington: A Collection, ed.
W. B. Allen (Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberty Classics, 1988), p.
521.
[145] For instance, Congress has been
funding only research projects that ignore or bury the effects of
religion while scrupulously trying to avoid any initiative that in
some way might advance religious belief or practice. This
essentially is what has happened in the vast areas of social
science research financed by the federal government that is among
the work covered in this study.
[146] William Raspberry, "Prevent the
Abuse, Preserve the Privilege," The Washington Post, April
7, 1993, p. A27.
[147] Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S.
306, 72 S. Ct. 679, 96 L.Ed 954 (1952).
[148] See Patrick F. Fagan "Social
Breakdown in America," in issues '96 (Washington, D.C.: The
Heritage Foundation, forthcoming 1996).
[149] The author would like to thank Dr.
David Larson, President of the National Institute for Healthcare
Research, for his generous guidance and assistance in providing
much resource material. Robert Klassen, while interning at the
Heritage Foundation, was of immense help as my research
assistant.