Religion and economic growth

Well now, if it wasn’t enough to study religion’s effect on health, now we have the national bureau of economic research studying religion’s effect on economics. The study’s author notes: “We find that economic growth responds positively to the extent of religious beliefs, notably those in hell and heaven, but negatively to church attendance. That is, growth depends on the extent of believing relative to belonging.” Go figure… I’ve been trying to help my sixth grader struggle with his beginning statistics work in math, now I realize why I’ve been led in that direction — so that I can read and understand articles such as this (and perhaps make arguments in opposition or contestation as well).