The role of religion

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Religion plays a very fundamental role in people’s lives today. If you look across the world, 8 in 10 people report a religious affiliation. We think people are religious for several different reasons. It brings them faith, spirituality and a sense of service. It also improves their sense of well-being.

There is a whole host of reasons why people today might be religious. They might be seeking something in this life, or they might be seeking something in an afterlife. There may be spiritual satisfaction of various kinds that people feel are important. These reasons all contribute to their faith, and they contribute to very different types of religions.

Belief and belonging

Religion has two aspects to it. There is the faith-based aspect of what we might want to call believing. This is the belief that people have about the nature of God, about the afterlife and so forth. The second aspect of religion is the nature of belonging. People belong to churches, temples, mosques and various religious organisations.

Both these aspects of believing and belonging might be important to individuals. For different people, the balance between believing and belonging might be quite different. For example, in some faiths, like Hinduism, there isn’t a mandatory requirement to regularly attend a temple. In other religions, such as Christianity and Islam, there are mandatory requirements sometimes to attend a place of religious worship.

The importance of community

One of the reasons why 8 in 10 people report a religious affiliation today is that there are genuine benefits to belonging to a religious community apart from the faith-based aspects. The way economists think about it is in terms of social capital norms and networks based on reciprocity.

We believe these norms and networks have value. For example, if you’re learning a new language and there are others with whom you can practice that language, all of you benefit. Similarly, with religious belief, if you’re a member of a religious organisation and other people in your community are also members, you might gain various benefits in terms of community support.

Some of the research others and I have been doing has shown that religion affects people’s well-being. In other words, the community support individuals receive positively affects their physical and mental health. While this effect is true of communities in general, children participating in school choirs or youth clubs, for example, is vital for child development.

Network effect

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At the same time, you find that this community support is also crucial for the parents, not just children. There’s a lot of research, for example, in the United States to suggest that people might be attending church once a week because of the various network benefits that they get from belonging to a neighborhood and belonging to a church.

There are several types of benefits. They might have to do with employment, help with childcare, education and a host of other community support issues. Overall, when we think about belonging, there is, of course, the faith-based aspect. Yet, I and others have been arguing that there’s also this community support aspect.

Economic development and religion

There was very much a perception that societies would become more secular when you had economic growth and development. Eventually, we would see the greater importance of science and a diminished influence of religion. This is a priori of what you would expect.

Nevertheless, a lot of empirical evidence suggests that, as countries experience rapid growth, religion isn’t going away. For instance, the world’s wealthiest nation, the United States, is also one of the most religious. Although secularisation is happening in developed countries, overall, religion does still seem to be very important.

The reason religion continues to be important is because of the community support involved. It is interesting, for example, during the COVID-19 crisis, recent studies have shown that online searches for terms like “religion” and “prayer” have increased dramatically. In one study, searches for the word “prayer” exceeded searches for the word “takeaway.” As such, I think it’s quite interesting that religion remains important to people during times of crisis, despite the economic growth that societies have experienced.

Generational differences

It’s fascinating to think about populations’ demographic composition and how this affects religion and religious beliefs. There’s a lot of research to suggest that the elderly are more religious than the young. However, this is partly a function of time. The elderly often have more time to devote to religion as a leisure activity. On the other hand, young people are within the throes of their working life and family life.

I’ve recently been researching religion and mental health amongst adolescent populations in the United States. We see that religiosity is high amongst this group and that it significantly affects their rates of depression. Their mental health is also affected by belonging to community religious activities. For instance, in a recent paper we published in the Journal of Political Economy, these activities reduced the probability of depression amongst young people.

Overall, I think it’s correct to suggest that religion becomes more important as a population ages. At the same time, however, young people are still religious. Today, if you look at the average age of religious people, the average age for Hindus and Muslims is relatively young, about 23 or 24. The average age for the Jewish population, on the other hand, is 36. So there’s quite a big difference. This suggests that some of these very rapidly growing religions like Islam and Hinduism are going to be dominated by very young populations.

Religion and politics

When studying religion, you’re looking at faith, belief, belonging and so forth. Yet, we all do know that religion has a great potential to generate conflict. The political aspect of religion is important in this regard.

Nowadays, it is a sad reality religious discussions very often are political. Economists have written about this. In fact, there is a type of literature known as the political economy of hatred literature.

These items suggest there is a real demand for literature against other groups. These could be sports groups, religious groups or other groups. Regardless, the supply is likely being provided by politicians, clergy, media and other sources. When you have pronounced inter-group differences, the demand for this kind of conflict increases. This is why we are witnessing religion becoming very political and, in some parts of the world, very regrettably resulting in conflicts of various kinds.

In whatever part of the world you look at religion today, it’s very tied up with discussions about liberalism and nationalism. We need to separate the faith-based, individual-based aspects from the more political factors.

Religious and secular education

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Many economists are looking at religious schooling and how it compares with secular education in many countries. Some parents argue that they want their children to experience religious instruction because it’s not taught as a part of the secular system. On the other hand, we would argue that the secular education system makes graduates employable.

So, how do you reconcile these two things? I think education is one channel through which individuals can try to deal with some of the issues surrounding societies that are becoming much more multicultural and diverse. Over time, I think an awareness of different faith traditions is central to developing tolerance nationally and internationally.

In thinking about these issues, I also believe the media has a vital role in spreading good stories and creating awareness. These days, younger generations are very much on social media and other online platforms. They may or may not read a printed newspaper.

There’s an important role the media needs to play in creating awareness and tolerance of other traditions. This role is quite central to dealing with the growing politicisation of particular religions we observe across the world.

Discover more about

The modern role of religion

Fruehwirth, J., Iyer, S., & Zhang, A . (2016). Religion and Depression in Adolescence. Journal of Political Economy, 127(3).

Iyer, S. (2015). The New Economics of Religion. Journal of Economic Literature, 54(2), 395–441.

The comforts and conflicts of participating in religious communities