Is Religion Good for You? It Depends.

Research Findings Are Called Into Question by Rise of Trump Evangelicals.

The rise of Christian nationalism among conservative White evangelicals casts doubt on prevailing research which claims that being religiously devout makes people generally more physically or mentally healthy.

I explored this in a recent talk at the world's largest academic conference of scholars in religious studies, the American Academy of Religion (AAR). I share some key points below. You can view the video of the talk here:

Something is clearly amiss in the way current research measures the health or unhealth of religion and spirituality. This is illustrated nowhere better than by the fact that those considered to be among the most devout religious believers (self-identified White born-again or evangelical voters) were also the staunchest supporters of Trump (at 82 %), the very candidate with the most repressive and violent rhetoric during the 2024 Presidential election.

“Trump has demeaned and debased just about anybody he could, from immigrants to minorities to women to those who are disabled,” says Rev. Monte Norwood, a critic of Trump and the conservative White evangelicals who support him. Now, Trump has appointed many religiously devout people to cabinet positions to turn his unholy rhetoric into public policy by following key tenets of the blueprint of the ultraconservative Project 2025.

It is obviously anything but healthy when White conservative religious people reach for omnipotent power by supporting a leader with fascist tendencies. How do we make sense of the discrepancy between prevailing research claims on the health effects of religion and the widespread real-existing harmful effects of religion? That is the focus of my talk. I will briefly highlight some points from it here that are at play when religion goes rogue.