Chicago, USA - Religion, it seems, pays. But why?
Identifying communities of frequent churchgoers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Jonathan Gruber found higher incomes and education levels and less welfare participation, along with more marriages and fewer divorces than in the general population.
The Religious Market Structure, Religious Participation and Outcomes: Is Religion Good for You? study was published in May for the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Comparing national statistics on religion and income, Gruber found higher income and education levels in communities densely populated by a particular religion. In communities where the church attendance rate was double that of the general population, incomes were 9 percent higher, for example.
Gruber doesn't purport to know definitively why churchgoers are better off, but he has a few theories after studying the outcomes of communities with high concentrations of people who shared a common religion.
Churchgoers have more social contacts and job leads, for one.
Or it could be that a church community provides "financial and emotional insurance," as Gruber describes it, referring to financial assistance and emotional support that can help mitigate financial setbacks.
A third explanation could center on children's more-frequent attendance in religious schools in these communities, Gruber said, though he said there is considerable debate in academic literature on whether that leads to better outcomes.
Finally, it could be that religion itself directly improves well-being, which can lead to more prosperity.
More than a dozen studies link religion and health. Prayer and meditation are associated with lower stress levels and positive outlooks that can lead to better physical health, noted George Fitchett, research director at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who is studying the links between religion and health under a grant from the National Institute on Aging.
Simply showing up at church may help a real estate agent get clients but does nothing for her emotional well-being if she's just going through the motions in the pew.
And isn't wealth frowned upon in religion?
The Bible is full of parables about the perils of financial success, such as the one in which Jesus warns how hard it is for the wealthy man to enter heaven (more difficult than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle).
But there is considerable debate among religious scholars about the exact interpretation of the New Testament story. Some believe it equates heaven's gate not to an impossible feat of physics but to an entrance to Jerusalem that was too small to pass through if a man was loaded down with all his possessions.
Being poor may not be a prerequisite for heaven. And being rich won't necessarily keep you out. The ones who pass through, the theory goes, are the ones willing to let go.
"Whatever you really can't give away is an idol that gets between you and God," said John Buchanan, pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church, just off Chicago's tony Michigan Avenue. Jesus simply expects us to be accountable for how we use our income, Buchanan said.
"One must share, so that no one is in need, and so no one is accumulating riches exclusively for himself," wrote Steven Leder in More Money Than God: Living a Rich Life Without Losing Your Soul (Bonus Books, $24).
Leder is a rabbi at Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles.
"We only truly receive in the deepest sense of the word when we give," he said.