Religious community membership measurably improves well-being, health, cooperation, and trust.

Evidence

Religion is a powerful force in the personal, social, and political lives of a significant portion of the population of the United States and the world. Religion has a positive impact on members and within group interactions. Members of a religious community in comparison with nonmembers have an increased sense of psychological well-being, as well as improved health and longevity (McCullough & Willoughby, 2009). Cooperation within large religious communities increases, and in individuals with higher levels of religiosity, who are reminded of an omnipresent God, trust and other prosocial behaviors also increase (Norenzayan & Shariff, 2008). — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 887

Categorization

• XREF: Overlaps with the Norenzayan/Shariff ‘Big Gods’ surveillance literature on prosocial behavior — a mechanism linking supernatural belief to ingroup trust that complements the Allport prejudice thread.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 887