How To Stay Out Of Poverty

GET TO CHURCH

Religion has a positive impact on society, according to researchers. Surveys of Americans' religious practices and beliefs indicate:

• Those who attend religious services regularly are more likely to be married, less likely to be divorced or single, and more likely to express satisfaction in marriage.

• Church attendance is the most important predictor of marital stability and happiness.

• Regular church attendance is particularly instrumental in helping young people to escape poverty, drugs, crime, welfare dependency and unwed pregnancy.

Further, states with more religious populations tend to have fewer homicides and suicides.

According to surveys, Americans pray even more than they attend church, with 94 percent of blacks, 91 percent of women, 87 percent of whites and 85 percent of men regarding themselves as people who pray regularly, with 78 percent of Americans praying at least once a week and 57 percent praying daily.

Even among the 13 percent who call themselves agnostics or atheists, some 20 percent pray daily.

Source: Patrick F. Fagan and William H.G. FitzGerald, "Why Religion Matters: Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability," Backgrounder No. 1064, January 25, 1996, Heritage Foundation, 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002, (202) 546-4400.

RESTORE COMPASSION, CHAIRITY

Morse, an economist at the Center for the Study of Public Choice at George Mason University, believes the moral costs of the welfare state should receive more attention.

• Although established with the best of intentions, the welfare state corrupts compassion toward those in distress through no fault of their own by creating an avoidable temptation -- what theologians call an "occasion of sin."

• It tempts potential recipients to abuse the system, since in many cases poverty doesn't merely happen to a person, but is the result of personal choices.

• Thus it creates incentives for rent-seeking -- an activity to earn a profit the government has made unusually high -- tempting some to make themselves eligible for welfare by sloth and to take actions to maintain eligibility.

• Additionally, as coerced donors, taxpayers are cut off from the spiritual benefits of charity -- and are misled to believe they can satisfy the requirements of charity without inconvenience or having to see the faces of the poor.

The final temptation of the welfare state may be to regulate the personal choices of recipients, since these choices determine whether or not they become impoverished or stay in poverty. But whose morality is the state to impose? Private charity appears to be the way out of the moral dilemma of the welfare state.

Source: Jennifer Roback Morse, "The Modern State as an Occasion of Sin," Policy Study No. 71, February 29, 1996, Heartland Institute, 800 E. Northwest Highway, Suite 1080, Palatine, IL 60067, (847) 202-3060.