The Christian Worker
Rodney Stark’s book America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists has been eye-opening and rewarding to read and digest. I hope you have been encouraged by the information I have shared with you over the past several weeks. It has shown how out of touch the mainstream media and cultural and political elites are when it comes to understanding who Christians are and what we do and accomplish in life.
Last week, I presented the information showing that Christians tend to be better educated than non-Christians and our teens take their own education more seriously than non-Christians. As you might expect, that college education pays dividends when it comes to occupational prestige.
Back in 1947, Paul Hatt and Cecil North took a sample of Americans concerning 87 job occupations. The sample rated the occupations on a scale, if the job was “excellent,” “good,” “average,” “somewhat below average,” or “poor.” Based on the ratings, scores were then given to the various occupations, ranking them relative to their “prestige.” A Supreme Court Justice scored a 94 while a “shoe shiner” scored a 34.
In 1962, another study was done and the results were equivalent to the 1947 study. Scores for occupations, considering their “prestige,” could be predicted based on the average education of those in that field as well as their average salary. Guess what…?
Among both whites and blacks, those who worshiped weekly scored the highest among upper-income categories! They were also significantly less likely to hold the “lower prestige” jobs. Those who worshiped weekly held 18% of the upper occupational prestige jobs; “sometimes” worshipers held 14% while the “nones” held 12%. In some way, then, church attendance correlates with occupational prestige.
But what about wealth? You would think that college education and occupations with higher prestige would also contribute to greater wealth. How do Christians stack up then? This type of measurement, according to Dr. Stark, is very hard to measure. Yet, there are some statistics that are enlightening.
Among both whites and blacks, those who worship weekly are more likely to own their own home (75% versus those who never worship, 56% among whites. The numbers are 51% and 31%, respectively, for blacks). Those who worship weekly are more likely (32%) to invest in the stock market or mutual funds versus those who do not worship (22%).
Finally, on the other side of the employment line, weekly worshipers are less likely to have ever been unemployed (20%) versus those who never worship (37%). The gap for blacks is 31% and 47%, respectively.
For those who have ever been behind on their rent or mortgage within the past year, 4% worship weekly, 11% never worship. Among those who have ever been on welfare, 28% worship weekly, 43% never worship. One last statistic - for those who have ever been on welfare, 37% worship weekly while 55% have never been to worship. No wonder there is a religious gap between the producers and the consumers!
For those of us who are Christians, none of this comes as a surprise. God put man on earth to work (Gen. 2:15). From one end of the Bible to the other, the message is the same. Paul told the Christians in Colossians: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24).
If you live by Christ’s principles, you will get a good education (which, obviously, is not always a college education). You will get a good job. You will keep your job. You will make money. You will get promoted. You’ll make more money. You will have to give to others, providing all the charitable giving we discussed last week.
Indeed, Christianity is good for America.
--Paul Holland
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