The importance of faith in the community

In the 1830s, the young French nobleman Alexis de Tocqueville travelled throughout the United States carefully observing its people and its institutions. When explaining the success of America's democratic republic to his countrymen, he commented at length about the critical role played by America's lasting religious devotion. He observed that religion was essential to forming America's democratic "habits of the heart."

Since those very early days of American life, our religious landscape has diversified significantly. Committed secularism, especially in the last 50 years, has also increased. Consequently, it is fair to ask just how critical faith is for fostering the habits of the heart required in a 21st-century industrialized democracy.

We believe that, in addition to having constitutionally-bound institutions of government, a vibrant democracy requires citizens to obey the law, to address and solve local problems cooperatively, to participate actively in civic life and to behave altruistically. Accordingly, we find that active faith, regardless of denomination, is the best tutor of democratic dispositions. And this is not just our opinion. It is supported by the best contemporary social science.

In 2006 and 2007, Robert Putnam of Harvard and David Campbell of Notre Dame rigorously surveyed a large and representative sample of Americans about the role of faith in their lives. Their painstaking analysis of this data appears in their critically-acclaimed book "American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us."

One of the unique contributions of their research is its capacity to parse Americans by "religiosity" (a combined measure of behaviors, attitudes and beliefs). Using their religiosity index, Putnam and Campbell show how the behaviors of religious Americans positively correlate to what Tocqueville would have called habits of the heart.

Consider some of their specific findings. Religious Americans are more generous with their time and money to both religious and non-religious causes. Religious Americans are more civilly active — they are more likely to belong to community organizations, participate in local civic and political life and work with neighbors to solve problems. Religious Americans are more trusting and altruistic. Religious Americans are happier. And religious Americans show greater respect for authority.

In effect, Putnam and Campbell confirm what George Washington argued in his Farewell Address, that "of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."