{"id":22404,"date":"2026-06-17T00:18:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:48:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/faith-is-integral-to-a-countrys-fortunes-says-research-review\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T00:18:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:48:06","slug":"faith-is-integral-to-a-countrys-fortunes-says-research-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/faith-is-integral-to-a-countrys-fortunes-says-research-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith is integral to a country\u2019s fortunes, says research review\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_6PGkeHjA3GP?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.5\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(RNS) \u2014 Religion is continuing to be a major influence in an increasingly secular Europe \u2014 not so much through church attendance and worship but because it is embedded in its values, especially those to do with the economy, according to a Berlin-based think tank, the Rockwool Foundation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the foundation\u2019s research review, religion is playing a far greater role in economic growth and prosperity than many people realize, affecting key economic behavior, including education, family size and savings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnyone who regards religion as a marginal factor overlooks a part of the deep structure of our societies,\u201d lead author and economics professor at the U.K.\u2019s Warwick University Sascha Becker told Religion News Service. \u201cReligion still matters because it has shaped, and in many places still shapes, the social norms and institutions through which policy operates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The paper, \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rfberlin.com\/research-insights\/religion-and-economic-growth\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Religion and Economic Growth: What We Know and Why It Matters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d surveys a wide range of economic literature. Its authors, including Becker, Jared Rubin of Chapman University and Ludger Woessmann of the University of Munich, looked at evidence through the centuries and across the globe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Becker cites education as a key area where policymakers need to understand the continuing role of religion in Europe. While most people would understand that religion played a key role in developing literacy because people were taught to read so that they could access the Bible, its influence is still evident today. Many European countries still have faith-based schools, religiously rooted educational traditions and minority communities for whom religious institutions are important.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIf policymakers want to improve skills, integration or female labor-force participation, they need to understand whether religious schooling complements secular skills, literacy, numeracy, science, or substitutes for them,\u201d Becker said. He warned that a secular policy on education may look neutral in theory \u201cbut can trigger resistance if communities experience it as an attack on identity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The role of religion in schooling is particularly evident in England, where around a third of state schools have a faith designation, the majority linked to the Church of England, a substantial number to the Roman Catholic Church and a very small minority to Jewish and Muslim institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cEven quite secular parents may value faith schools because they associate them with a clear ethos, discipline, good behavior and aspiration,\u201d Becker said. \u201cThe point is not that religion automatically produces better schools: The evidence is complicated by selection and peer effects, but that religiously rooted institutions can still shape parental choices and the production of human capital in today\u2019s Europe.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the report\u2019s authors, policymakers do not need to endorse religious doctrine, but they need to understand how the moral worlds in which people live affect choices they make about their lifestyles, such as family size and schooling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another example of how religion impacts Europe today is in attitudes to migration and social cohesion. Protests against migration have popped up across many European nations, often pushing for Christianity in rows about national identity. In the U.K., a movement called Unite the Kingdom has focused on the significance of Christianity in the heritage of Britain \u2013 something that many clergy have been wary of endorsing as it does not reflect the Christian ethos of welcoming the stranger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many religious organizations, such as the Jesuit Refugee Service, have been instrumental in helping migrants settle, learn a new language and understand local services and whether they can access them. While some migrants are Christian, others are not, and networks of Muslim institutions, for example, can also help people on their arrival in Europe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUnderstanding religion helps policymakers design integration policies that are neither na\u00efvely multicultural nor simply assimilationist,\u201d Becker said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Becker warns that religion is not the entire explanation for a nation\u2019s strategy. In Spain there has been a more welcoming attitude to migrants than in other European countries, and Catholic charities and the Catholic Church have played a significant role in supporting migrants. According to Becker, there is a pragmatic reason for doing so, rather than a theological reason. \u201cIt reflects labor shortages,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last week in Spain and the Canary Islands, Pope Leo XIV met migrants and the organizations that rescue, welcome and accompany them as they often arrive by boat across dangerous seas between Africa and Spain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The gospel, said Pope Leo, \u201casks us if we have recognized Christ in those who disembark, marked by fear, hunger and violence, after enduring the desert, the night and the sea.\u201d He went on to urge governments across the world to share responsibility for what happens to migrants, to protect them from criminal traffickers and help their countries of origin to improve their economic development.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Religion can also have a negative impact on society, the researchers warn, citing women\u2019s absence from the Afghan labor force because of Taliban thinking on the role of women, which is contributing to a stunted Afghan economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, some Christian denominations are focusing increasing attention on the environment and the future of the planet, with believers encouraged to live more simply, encourage more sustainable development and limit consumption. \u201cThis could well impact economic growth,\u201d Becker said, and he urged them to consider if it is possible to not hinder growth but encourage a different, greener kind of economic growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, Becker is not convinced that churches have significant ethical influence today on those in power, especially when it comes to some denominations\u2019 thinking on capitalism and its adverse effects, such as the Catholic Church. \u201cThe U.S. has a large church attendance, yet it is the most capitalist society,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is significant tension there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in Europe, ideas from Catholic social teaching, such as solidarity and subsidiarity, were adopted by the founders of the European Union but now function as secular constitutional principles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subsidiarity is a good example of a religiously rooted idea that has become secularized, Becker said. \u201cIn Catholic social teaching, it meant that higher authorities should support, not replace, families, communities and local associations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today in the EU, subsidiarity has become a foundational legal principle, where decisions should be made locally under certain conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSo, the religious roots are part of the genealogy, but the principles now have a broader, pluralist meaning,\u201d Becker said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/16\/faith-is-integral-to-a-countrys-fortunes-says-research-review\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) \u2014 Religion is continuing to be a major influence in an increasingly secular Europe \u2014 not so much through church attendance and worship but because it is embedded in its values, especially those to do with the economy, according to a Berlin-based think tank, the Rockwool Foundation.\u00a0 According to the foundation\u2019s research review, religion 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