By Perry Chang
Are people who attend worship at religious congregations involved in their community no only through their congregation but also through other organizations? And what difference might this make for worshipers and their communities?
In Bowling Alone, political scientist Robert Putnam decried what he saw as a decline in community involvement across the country. Putnam noticed the numerical decline of bowling leagues and other such civic organizations. Putnam linked the decline in community organizations to lower levels of trust, which he believes makes communities less dynamic and less livable.
Putnam conceded that some organizations, including religious congregations, may be inwardly focused and may steer worshipers away from involvement in other kinds of organizations. This may be good for building close-knit local groups, but not for building bridges across these groups. Worshipers in congregations, in other words, may be praying together but still "bowling alone."
Responses from the 2008-2009 U.S. Congregational Life Survey show that people who attend worship at least weekly are more likely to volunteer to help people or improve their community through their congregation than those who attend worship less often.
Results also show that worshipers who volunteer to help their community through the congregation are more likely to volunteer through organizations other than the congregation. When asked whether, in general, most people can be trusted or if one can't be too careful in dealing with people, worshipers who volunteer through their congregation or outside of their congregation are also more likely than other worshipers to say most people can be trusted.
In short, people who pray together are involved in their communities. They are not bowling alone. In this way, involvement in relgious congregations may help build better, more diverse communities.
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