People who are in their twenties today who attended religious services at least once a week as children report being 18% happier, and healthier, than their peers who did not go to church.
And it gets better from there.
They are also 30% more likely to volunteer and 33% more likely not to do drugs. And it’s more than just going to church, researchers found. Daily prayer yields the same advantages.
A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found people who pray daily - apart from church attendance - also have better outlooks, something Dr. Shannon Holzer, who teaches religion and politics at Houston Baptist University, has found in his study. “We can go to church and not be in communion with God. But when we pray, we certainly are in communion with God, we are actually talking with God. Whereas in church, we may actually be more interested in the door.”
Dr. Holzer says he can attest to the impact of The Word on health. “One doctor prescribed for me listening to Christian music instead of secular music, because Christian music offers a positive message of hope, peace, patience and kindness whereas what secular music offers is sad, depressing and hopeless.”
Researchers followed thousands of kids from childhood through adulthood, finding a direct correlation between the happiness achieved in their 40’s with their attendance at church when they were young.