Religion – and religious education – can reduce rape, suicide, study shows 

A self-governed nation arguably begins and ends with one thing: self-governed individuals. If you can’t govern yourself and your own behavior, how can you possibly govern a nation? 

Moreover, a new study shows what most of us intrinsically know: governing oneself begins and ends with a morality that can only flow from a belief in God. 

As John Adams put it in 1798, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” 

As if to prove Adams’ point, The Daily Signal writes Sunday that “a groundbreaking new study reveals a terrifying correlation between the increase of Americans who identify with no religion and upticks in rape and suicide rates.” 

“Rape, Suicide, and the Rise of Religious Nones,” a study by Philip Truscott, formerly of Southwest Baptist University in Missouri, may serve as a wake-up call to the very present dangers of Godlessness in society. 

The study, an abstract of which appears in the fall Journal of Sociology and Christianity, blends data on rape and suicide from several sources with multiple surveys in which respondents say they have no religion, or at least no religious affiliation.  

“Truscott’s analysis,” The Daily Signal reports, “showed a very clear correlation between increases in the rate of Americans identifying as religious ‘nones’ and rape and suicide rates. … Truscott finds a positive correlation between the proportion of the population declaring no religious affiliation and the rape rate on campus.” 

If religion makes a comeback, Truscott tells The Daily Signal in the starkest of terms, “everybody’s less likely to be a rape victim, everybody will have less need for public expenditure on mental health, because for every completed suicide, you get like 10 that are attempted suicides.” 

For most years studied, The Daily Signal writes, “the rates of reported rape on campus aligned with the increasing rates of American ‘nones.’ … 

“Truscott also finds that an increase in the suicide rate corresponded to the increase in the rate of ‘nones,’ though not as closely.”

Truscott additionally cites a 2012 study showing the non-religious tend to consume more alcohol and use more illicit drugs – along with a 2010 study finding such substance abuse is associated with criminality, including rape. 

“To put it another way, some non-religious men made a short moral step into substance use and then, in a diminished state of self-control, made a much larger one into criminality,” the study abstract reads. 

Truscott’s prescription? Universal school choice – as the Daily Signal writes, “especially programs that enable parents to direct the education funds for their students to religious schools,” where religion can help with students’ self-control. 

“If the parents want to choose religious schools and want to preserve the religious faith of their children, well, my research indicates that’s going to be very good for everyone,” Truscott told the news outlet. 

Truscott said he feels the study isn’t getting more attention because, as The Daily Signal notes, “many academic journals lean to the Left and attempted to poke holes in his research.”