“Church-going Christians Less Likely To Commit Adultery”

Correlation can indicate (suggest, hint at) causation when there is a) theory to explain the causal connection, b) lack of confounding variables, c) lack of conflicting variables. Correlation cannot prove causation even with those factors present.

I did not say this proves that all churchgoers have healthier marriages than all non-churchgoers. It’s not even proof that going to church helps marriages. Yet I stand by my statement that this study provides insight into how a couple can keep their marriage healthy. “Insight” means information with understanding.

There is theoretical reason to believe that church attendance supports marriages–it’s one of most conservative churches’ primary missions. Persons with higher religious devotion are generally healthier than less devoted persons on dozens of social and emotional dimensions. And (more controversially, I recognize) devoted followers of Christ have the power of prayer and of God’s presence to help them.

There is some conflicting research out there, but this is from a very high-quality research database, and it does a better job than prior research does of separating out subgroups of professing Christians. So the correlation in this case quite likely is an indicator of causation. Not proven, but quite likely.

James Corbett, in the case you quoted back to me, ignored mountains of conflicting research that contradicts his presumed correlation-causation connection.

Also, Jordan, I hope you read the disclaimer I referred to in the main blog post.

Tom, I’m a bit confused about this from the study:

“…those who have more conservative views of the Bible are less likely to cheat.

That said, Baptists are one-third less likely to wander than those with no religious affiliation, researchers found, and Catholics display similar odds. Moderate Protestants such as Presbyterians and Lutherans have 37 per cent lower odds of cheating than the unaffiliated, while liberal Protestants such as those in the United and Anglican churches are 31 per cent more faithful.”

I would think that Baptists and Catholics would have more conservative views of the Bible than moderate Protestants, yet moderate Protestants are more faithful than Baptists. Am I wrong in my thinking, or would this suggest that there’s an error in the conclusions drawn from the study?

The study’s abstract, posted here, says “Both church attendance and biblical beliefs are associated with lower odds of self-reported infidelity.” Based on that, it would appear that Tom is correct in surmising that data on individual beliefs were part of the mix.

Also, differences between “liberal”, “moderate”, and “conservative” Christians may not be as denominationally clear-cut as one might assume. Some Catholics (and even some Baptists) are theologically and morally liberal, while many Presbyterians and Lutherans are very conservative.