In the latest issue of Touchstone Magazine, renowned public opinion pollster George H. Gallup, Jr., takes a hard look at Gregory Paul's study of religious faith and social pathologies, "Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies". In my opinion, it's a rout across the board. Mr Gallup and research associate D. Michael Lindsay of Princeton University challenge Mr Paul's data, his analytical methodology, and his conclusions.

Paul has made strong claims about the effect of religion upon society without examining all the other factors that might explain the phenomena he wrote about.
. . .
[A] mountain of survey data from the Gallup and other survey organizations shows that when educational background and other variables are held constant, persons who are "highly spiritually committed" are far less likely to engage in antisocial behavior than those less committed. They have lower rates of crime, excessive alcohol use, and drug addiction than other groups.

On the other hand, the "highly spiritually committed" are more hopeful about the future and experience greater joy in life. They contribute more time helping people who are burdened with physical and emotional needs. They are less likely to be racist, and are more giving and forgiving.

At the same time, Mr Gallup acknowledges that not all Americans who profess religious faith are "highly spiritually committed". It is this gap between profession and behaviour that Mr Paul attempts to exploit.

As Paul noted, a huge majority of Americans attest to a belief in God or a higher power, but he did not ask the key question in understanding the effect of religion on American life: How deep is this belief?

Mr Gallup suggests only about 10% of American Christians are deeply commited to the faith; but these Christians are far more likely to exhibit attitudes and behaviours in keeping with the teachings of Christ.

Clearly, Mr Paul is away off the track. Equally clearly, however, Christians could be doing much more to live as salt and light in our societies.

As a final word, I am honoured that Mr Gallup and Touchstone Magazine editor David Mills quoted part of my blog post on this study.