The three faith factors

Public Interest, Fall, 2002 by John J. Diiulio, Jr.

How, if at all, does religion affect health and social welfare? Under what, if any, conditions does religion help to improve the lives of disadvantaged urban children and families, and how, if at all, can we foster those conditions? Is there any significant body of evidence to suggest that religion reduces crime and delinquency among low-income, inner-city youth?

In 1995, when I began asking these questions in earnest, there was little reliable empirical research with which to address them. Today, however, we have many first-rate statistical and ethnographic studies that supply some preliminary answers. Though far from definitive, the evidence to date suggests that religion can improve individual well-being and ameliorate specific social problems.

But what types of religious influences are most beneficial to the individual and society? At least three separate but related faith factors can be identified--what I will call "organic religion," "programmatic religion," and "ecological religion."

"Organic religion" is defined as a belief in God and regular attendance of religious services in a church, synagogue, mosque, or other traditional places of worship. "Programmatic religion" refers to individual participation in social programs run by organizations with a religious affiliation. With or without attending religious services, a child might be enrolled in an after-school program that is staffed mainly by religious leaders and volunteers. Lastly, even if one does not believe in God or attend services or religiously run social programs, one may still be exposed to "ecological religion." For many urban youths, the only institutions more ubiquitous than liquor outlets are churches, the only unbroken windows they see are stained-glass windows, and many of the social-service programs that routinely supply them or their neighbors with basic necessities and services are operated through community ministries. Even without any formal religion in their lives, such youths may still be exposed to religious in fluences.

State of the research

The empirical research to date suggests that, especially for low-income urban children, youth, and young adults, these different forms of religious

influence help to counter other, negative individual and social influences. Other things being equal, church attendance, participation in faith-based programs, and benefits received or services delivered from the hands of people working through local congregations are each associated with a greater probability that urban youth will escape poverty, crime, and other social ills.

Still, the body of research on organic, programmatic, and ecological religion is far from comprehensive. While the literature on organic religion is now highly developed, that on programmatic religion is much less so. Scholars have usually approached organic and programmatic religion in ways that lend themselves to addressing whether these respective religious factors improve life prospects. In contrast, the literature on ecological religion focuses far more on the extent to which community congregations supply social services to their needy neighborhoods than on whether their presence and activities improve individual life prospects or overall community conditions.

Certain questions remain almost completely unasked and hence unanswered. One might reasonably posit that, other things being equal, an inner-city youth who is exposed to all three kinds of religious influence would be most likely to prosper. But in fact we do not yet know whether such a "three-factor" youth is likely to do better than an otherwise comparable "single-factor" or "two-factor" youth. Moreover, there is as yet no firm empirical basis for knowing whether faith-based social programs outperform secular ones, and if so, why. And the only answers we can now credibly give to healthy skepticism about the social efficacy of religion are based not on experimental evidence but on counterfactual reasoning. Thus, to those who say, "If religion reduces deviance and is so ubiquitous, then why are things still so bad?", we can only respond, "How much worse would things be were it not for religious influences?"

Still, we do know far more today than we did seven years ago. The studies we have allow us to examine organic, programmmatic, and ecological religion in relation to relevant research literature on urban crime and delinquency. What we know is highly encouraging. These three types of religious influence constitute a social trinity of "spiritual capital" that can help low-income urban children, youth, and families.

Organic religion

Imagine two sets of people who are alike in terms of average age, income, and other socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. One group consists of people who believe in God, attend worship services regularly, and exhibit other religious commitments. The other group consists of nonbelievers who attend worship services rarely, if at all, and exhibit few if any marks of religious commitment.