Spirit or Fleeting Apparition? Why Spirituality’s Link with Social Support Might Be Incrementally Invalid

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Another interesting aspect of this finding is that it concurs with hypothesis that it is "good people" who build and maintain religious organisations—not faiths that make people good. That is, socialized and empathetic individuals may actively seek out spiritual and faith related organizations as a means of expressing their inherent preexisting (agreeable and conscientious) dispositions. If so, claims that religions serve a useful social function are somewhat weakened by this hypothesis—neither faith based beliefs nor their related places of worship "cause" us to be good, rather those of us who want to contribute to society are slightly more likely to believe in a faith and act proactively via religiously-affiliated institutions.

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