Religious people far more charitable than their non-religious counterparts, according to a new study. 
The research, carried out by leading academic Dr Robert Putnam and David E. Campbell, lecturer in political science at the University of Notre Dame found that, while secular Americans tended to be somewhat more tolerant, religious people were much more likely to be help the poor and the elderly.
The two men have co-authored ‘American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us,’ showcasing their research, carried out over five years.
According to the research, 40 per cent of worship-attending Americans volunteer regularly to help the poor and elderly, compared with 15 per cent of Americans who never attend services.
Those who frequently attend religious services are also more likely than the never-attenders to volunteer for school and youth programs (36 per cent compared to 15 per cent), a neighbourhood or civic group (26 per cent compared to 13 per cent), and for health care (21 per cent vs. 13 per cent).
The data also shows that religious Americans give more money to secular causes than do secular Americans, backing up previous research showing that religious people tend to be more generous givers to charity than secular people.
The divide also holds true for good deeds such as helping someone find a job, donating blood, and spending time with someone who is feeling depressed.
This “religious edge” holds up for organised forms of community involvement, according to Campbell and Putnam’s data: membership in organisations, working to solve community problems, attending local meetings, voting in local elections, and working for social or political reform.
And it isn’t just that religious people are advocating for causes such as traditional marriage and the right-to-life. Religious liberals are more likely to be community activists than are religious conservatives.
The two researchers controlled for other explanations.
In a USA Today article, Campbell and Putnam wrote: “Maybe it is because women are more religious than men, and women are better neighbors. Or maybe it is because religious people are older — and so on. Again, the results hold steady even when we account for these potential counter-explanations.”
The two men also say that that the data shows that denomination made no difference to the results. Even people who claim no religious affiliation but still attend worship services occasionally are more civically involved than those who never attend at all, Putnam and Campbell say.
However, according to the research, it is not the particular religious beliefs themselves that drive this civic engagement.
Campbell and Putnam claim to have examined the possible impact of 25 different religious beliefs on civic behavior, and say that “none explains religious Americans’ good neighbourliness”.
Instead, they say that what matters most is having friends within a religious congregation.
They write: “Friends found in Catholic parishes, Jewish synagogues, Protestant churches, Mormon wards — and every other type of religious grouping — all produce the same civic effect.
“Even people who are not very religious experience a civic boost if they are enmeshed in a religious social network.”