How does religion and/or spirituality contribute to alleviating stress?

Probability surveys of the adult population since 1940 have consistently found the United States to be a religious nation. Gallup polls of the general population between 1998 and 2003 indicated that 94-96% of the populace believes in God, over 90% pray, 65-71% are church members, 38-47% have attended church, synagogue, or temple within the past seven days, and 58-64% say that religion is very important in their lives.¹ Furthermore, many Americans turn to religion to cope when they are stressed. In December 2001, three months following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, 71% of the population indicated that religion was having an increasing influence on American life, greater than at any other time since the question was first asked in 1957.² A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 90% of Americans coped with the stress of 9/11 by "turning to religion."³ During the week following the terrorist attacks, 60% of Americans attended a religious or memorial service and Bible sales rose 27%.⁴

In the United States, then, religion is often used to cope with stress (called "religious coping"). This may involve praying to God or a higher power, meditating by using a religious approach, reading religious scriptures, attending religious services, performing religious rituals, or obtaining religious counsel or direction.

Notes

The Gallup Organization: Poll Topics and Trends. See Web site http://www.gallup.com/poll/topics/religion.asp (last accessed 7/18/03).
Ibid.
Schuster, M. A., B. D. Stein, L. H. Jaycox, R. L. Collins, G. N. Marshall, M. N. Elliott,A. J. Zhou, D. E. Kanouse, J. L. Morrison, and S. H. Berry. 2001. A national survey of stress reactions after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New England Journal of Medicine 345:1507-12.
Biema, D. 2001. Faith after the fall. Time Magazine October 8, 2001. See Web site: http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1000951,00.html.

From Harold G. Koenig, M.D., Faith & Mental Health: Religious Resources for Healing (Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press, 2005), 45-46.