Data bite

Christian Century, August 23, 2003

According to a study by the National Opinion Research Centre, Americans on average perform 109 altruistic acts each year. But those who attend a place of worship weekly--church, synagogue, mosque or temple--report doing all average of 128 good deeds a year People who never attend worship perform only 96 acts of kindness on average.

The study concluded that faith-based acts of kindness proliferate because the core values of all major world religions incorporate charity-related deeds in their beliefs.