{"id":3244,"date":"2022-03-25T10:08:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T14:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2022-03-25T10:08:14","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T14:08:14","slug":"3-facts-atheists-cant-deny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/03\/3-facts-atheists-cant-deny.html","title":{"rendered":"3 Facts Atheists Can’t Deny"},"content":{"rendered":"

Numerous studies show authentic faith and church attendance\u2019s power, importance, and impact. Still, there seems to be a profound disconnect, especially as culture drifts further away from belief and deeper into a secularistic chasm. Meanwhile, depression, overdoses, suicides, and general disconnectedness continue.<\/p>\n

The antidote appears to be before us. However, there\u2019s an explicit rejection of what holds us together: a belief in God and a connection to others through church communities. The culture celebrates secularist and atheistic worldviews, while several important findings reveal that a God-centered perspective can offer healing and purpose. Here are three key conclusions demonstrating this reality, facts that should call our nation back to faith, belief, and church community.<\/p>\n

Practicing Christians fare better in relationships.<\/h2>\n

The Barna Group recently released a survey exposing a stunning relational disparity between practicing Christians and U.S. adults. According to the Christian Post, while 61 percent of practicing Christians said they are flourishing in friendships and relationships, just 28 percent of U.S. adults said the same. Another group, known as \u201cchurched adults,\u201d see benefits from church attendance, though they might not necessarily identify themselves as Christians.<\/p>\n

Fifty-two percent of this group said they are flourishing in their relationships. The research firm noted<\/a>, \u201cConsistently, practicing Christians fare better across the dimensions included in Barna\u2019s research on flourishing.\u201d Considering the role of a church to connect people to God and one another, these statistics shouldn\u2019t be shocking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cA church that not only welcomes and connects people but also operates out of an awareness (if not a proficiency) in the realities of what it takes to be content and satisfied in relationships today is key in supporting the whole-life flourishing of congregants,\u201d Barna\u00a0continued.<\/p>\n

Church attendees are happier and more content.<\/h2>\n

Church attendance also seems to yield some intensely positive benefits. Gallup Senior Scientist Frank Newport recently reported on statistics found by his polling firm backing the notion that attending religious services has a compelling impact on people\u2019s life views.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe January Gallup data indicate that 92 percent of those who attend church services weekly are satisfied, compared with 82% of those who attend less than monthly,\u201d Newport\u00a0wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe difference is even more evident in the percentage who report being very satisfied \u2014 67 percent of those who attend weekly are very satisfied with their personal life, compared with 48% among infrequent attenders.\u201d<\/p>\n

For anyone who believes money is the be-all, end-all of happiness, consider that weekly church service is a more robust indicator of happiness than is higher income. \u201cWeekly religious service attendees are, in fact, more likely to say they are very satisfied than are those who make $100,000 or more in annual household income,\u201d Newport\u00a0continued.<\/p>\n

Those findings are just the beginning, as the data scientist said there is a \u201clong line of studies\u201d that correlate religiosity and wellbeing. The general conclusion from the research is that the more religious people are, the less likely they are to be depressed and the more content they appear to be.<\/p>\n

Churchgoers report better mental health.<\/h2>\n

The benefits of church attendance don\u2019t end there. Forty-four percent of weekly churchgoers\u00a0told Gallup<\/a>\u00a0they would describe their \u201cmental health and emotional wellbeing\u201d as \u201cexcellent.\u201d This compares to 46% who said the same in 2020 and 42% of regular congregants who reported \u201cexcellent\u201d mental health in 2019, holding relatively steady.<\/p>\n

This was the highest proportion for self-reported excellent mental health among gender, age, political-party identification, and annual household income cohorts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wellbeing of most groups mirrors the national trend, with their mental health scores worsening last year followed by little to no improvement this year,\u201d Gallup\u00a0reported. \u201cHowever, Democrats\u2019 mental health rating has been steady at a relatively low level since 2019 while frequent churchgoers\u2019 has been steadily high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just 28 percent of Democrats reported \u201cexcellent\u201d mental health, compared to 42 percent of Republicans. While Democrats have remained consistent in this regard, Republicans have seen a decline, falling from 41 percent in 2020 and 56% in 2019. Still, their proportion is much higher than the progressive cohort. Other cohorts reporting low ratios of \u201cexcellent\u201d mental health are those who make less than $40,000 per year (27 percent), those who rarely or never attend church (29 percent), and women (29 percent).<\/p>\n

Faith and church attendance are positively correlated to increased contentedness, positive wellbeing, and satisfaction with personal relationships. In an era when many struggle to find these sentiments, we must fully understand this data and the reality that it points to the antidote for our internal woes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Numerous studies show authentic faith and church attendance\u2019s power, importance, and impact. Still, there seems to be a profound disconnect, especially as culture drifts further away from belief and deeper into a secularistic chasm. Meanwhile, depression, overdoses, suicides, and general disconnectedness continue. The antidote appears to be before us. However, there\u2019s an explicit rejection of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church"],"yoast_head":"\n3 Facts Atheists Can't Deny<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Study after study seems to show the power, importance, and impact of authentic faith and church attendance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2022\/03\/3-facts-atheists-cant-deny.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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