Find the peace that passes all understanding

The stories were published on Page A5 in the Reading Eagle three days apart. It’s too bad they didn’t run together. That might have helped more people to associate the importance of religion and the impact it can have on their happiness.

Of course, people would have to read the newspaper to get that message. That’s a whole other story about the decline of our society. But these two stories tell an important and disturbing message about where society is heading.

The story that was published in the Good Friday edition was headlined “Poll: Church membership plummets over 20 years.” The headline in the Easter Monday edition was “Study: Happiness found in religion.”

Put them together and you could conclude that people are less happy these days and could change that by making religion a priority in their lives. The separate reports by the Gallup Poll and the Pew Research Center don’t draw that conclusion, but I do.

According to an Associated Press story on the Gallup Poll:

“The percentage of U.S. adults who belong to a church or other religious institution has plunged by 20 percentage points over the past two decades, hitting a low of 50% last year, according to a new Gallup poll. Among major demographic groups, the biggest drops were recorded among Democrats and Hispanics.

“Gallup said church membership was 70% in 1999 — and close to or higher than that figure for most of the 20th century. Since 1999, the figure has fallen steadily, while the percentage of U.S. adults with no religious affiliation has jumped from 8% to 19%.

“Among Americans identifying with a particular religion, there was a sharp drop in church membership among Catholics — dropping from 76% to 63% over the past two decades as the church was buffeted by clergy sex-abuse scandals. Membership among Protestants dropped from 73% to 67% percent over the same period.

“Among Hispanic Americans, church membership dropped from 68% to 45% since 2000, a much bigger decline than for non-Hispanic white and black Americans.

“There was a big discrepancy over that 20-year period in regard to political affiliation: Church membership among Democrats fell from 71% to 48%, compared to a more modest drop from 77% to 69% among Republicans.”

The Pew study, released about three months ago, focused on more than two dozen countries, including the United States. It found that “people who regularly attend a house of worship are more likely to be happy and civically engaged than those who do not,” but it did not find a significant different between religiously “actives” and “non-actives” when it came to exercise and maintaining a healthy weight.

Here are the five basic findings from that study:

■ “Actively religious people are more likely than their less-religious peers to describe themselves as ‘very happy’ in about half of the countries surveyed. Sometimes the gaps are striking: In the U.S., for instance, 36% of the actively religious describe themselves as ‘very happy,’ compared with 25% of the inactively religious and 25% of the unaffiliated. Notable happiness gaps among these groups also exist in Japan, Australia and Germany.

■ “There is not a clear connection between religiosity and the likelihood that people will describe themselves as being in ‘very good’ overall health. Even after controlling for factors that might affect the results, such as age, income and gender, there are only three countries out of the 26 where the actively religious are likely to report better health than everyone else – the U.S., Taiwan and Mexico. Religiously active people also don’t seem to be any healthier by two other, more specific measures: obesity and frequency of exercise.

■ “At the same time, the actively religious are generally less likely than the unaffiliated to smoke and drink. Religions often frown on certain unhealthy behaviors, and that tendency seems reflected in data on smoking and drinking. In all but two of 19 countries for which data are available, the actively religious are less likely than the unaffiliated to smoke, and, in all but one country, less likely than the inactively religious to do so. The actively religious also tend to drink less, although the findings are not as stark: In 11 of the 19 countries, people who attend services at least monthly are less likely than the rest of the population to drink several times a week.

■ “People who attend religious services at least monthly often are more likely than ‘nones’ to join other types of (nonreligious) organizations, such as charities and clubs. This is true in eight of the 26 countries surveyed. And in 12 countries, the religiously active are more likely than inactively religious people to join nonreligious groups. In the U.S., for example, 58% of actively religious people are also involved in at least one nonreligious voluntary organization, compared with just 51% of the inactively religious and 39% of the unaffiliated.

■ “The actively religious generally are more likely than others to vote. In Spain, 83% of the actively religious report that they always vote in national elections, compared with 62% of inactives and 53% of the unaffiliated. In the U.S., 69% of the actively religious say they always vote, compared with 59% of inactives and 48% of the unaffiliated. In fact, there are no countries in which the actively religious are significantly less likely to vote than others. Countries where there are no significant differences in voting patterns by religion include Brazil, the Netherlands and New Zealand, as well as several other countries where voting is mandatory.”

The information doesn’t suggest that the religiously actives are better people, but they are more involved and happier, according to the study. 

For me, there’s a bigger concern beyond increasing our own happiness. The decline of religion is having and will continue to have a negative impact on society as a whole. 

I believe our own happiness never is the result of taking care of ourselves; it results from the good we do in the world – taking care of others. That includes the spiritual as well as physical care of people and is among the reasons organized religion is important.

The decline of church involvement reducess church teaching, and the decline of that teaching will have a negative impact on all of us.

I know of young families that have no interest in being part of the church. Some of them see the major celebrations of the church – Christmas and Easter – as secular holidays. Their children grow up with little to no awareness of the true meanings of those important church events. They learn to know those observances as generic holidays focusing on presents and mythical figures instead of the real person who is at the center of Christmas and Easter.

Others are interested enough to attend church on those two days, but then fail to find time to take part in the worship and mission of church during the rest of the year.

Too many of us are too caught up in the “me time” of our lives. We fail to volunteer, donate and serve others in need. Too many of us seek happiness in areas other than the work of the church, in spite of what we can learn from the Pew research.

Churches aren’t alone in the loss of involvement. Most volunteer-based community organizations and many non-profits also are struggling for support, both in time and monetary donations. 

Those trends are not encouraging, but it’s not hopeless because many people continue to support and encourage the work of the church and charities in our communities. 

For example, the Reading Berks Council of Churches, which held its annual prayer breakfast last week, has launched Transformative Solutions, an effort to battle poverty in the city of Reading. It hopes to improve neighborhoods and quality of life by starting with one section of the city – south of Penn – and expanding into other areas. It’s a good start, but it will take time and commitment from a growing group of people.

RBCC isn’t the only community organization focused on doing good for others. The problem with many of these efforts, however, remains the lack of interest and involvement from younger generations. 

Throughout my life I have believed and experienced that the more we give, the more we receive. The more we care about others, the more others care about us.

That’s where the church comes in. It’s not just a place to gather. It’s a place to spread hope and share joys and suffering. It’s a place to provide education about God’s plan for this world. 

It’s a place to help people find the peace that passes all understanding.

The church has its faults. The sex-abuse scandal, most notably in the Roman Catholic Church, has damaged the church’s reputation as a safe haven. Many mainstream Protestant churches have failed to communicate with the younger generations. The primary message – God’s saving grace – should not change, but the delivery of that message must be in a language and style that the people in need understand and can relate to.

We have to connect so we can share the good news.

Some people may get message as they get older. Others may never get it. Either way there is a loss for themselves and for the rest of us.

When our life is nearing its end, what will have mattered most? It will be family. It will be the love we showed to others. Mostly, it will be how well we followed God’s words and did His work on Earth.