A Social Penicillin

Rector says, “Religion is a social penicillin, lethal against a wide array of behavioral pathogens.” He cites a study of black inner-city youth by Harvard University’s Richard Freeman: Boys who regularly attend church are 50% less likely to commit crimes. They are 54% less likely to use drugs and 47% less likely to drop out of school. In Rector’s own studies, he finds that churchgoing boys and girls are two-thirds less likely to engage in teen sex. Regular church attendance halves the chances a woman will have a child out of wedlock.

“Religion Helps Underclass Overcome Many Problems,” by Walter E. Williams, Human Events, January 17, 1997, p. 9.