Does a healthy democracy need religion?

I posted this as an answer to a Facebook Question:

The benefits of religion are demonstrated by a recent study released called "American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us."

Here are several quotes from the study (obtained from http://beta-newsroom.lds.org/articl...):

"Any way you slice it, religious Americans are simply more generous." (454).

"Religion is the strongest predictor of altruism"; more than "education, age, income, gender, race, and so forth." (464).

"Religious people are both more trusting... and (in the eyes of others) more trustworthy themselves." (461).

"With the partial exception of socioeconomic status, religiosity is, by far, the strongest and most consistent predictor of... civic involvement." (454).
I argue that generosity, altruism, trust, and civic involvement are all vital to a healthy democracy. If this study is right and religion is a strong indicator that an individual will possess these attributes, than I believe it is vital.

To this I would add my personal experience. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), I have always been taught to be involved in my community, to vote, to obey the laws, and generally be a good neighbor and citizen. To a lesser extent I learned this at school, but I also heard and saw conflicting ideas from my teachers and peers. If it were not for my religion, I would not feel the duty I do now to participate in this democracy.

Religious Values in the Public Square

Religious Values in the Public Square

The Church occasionally releases these articles, which I love. This one states simply why Mormons should not be silent about our principles in public discourse. In a pluralistic society, no voice should be silenced simply because it is religious or because it is secular. If we silence anyone, society simply will not work. To silence any portion of society is to undo much of the good that was done in the 20th century with the women's rights and civil rights movements. We would reproduce the hypocritical society we lived in for more than a century, declaring that all men are created equal, yet denying equality to so many.

I cannot form an opinion without the influence of m religion. My religious values are a part of every major decision I make. Does this immediately decrease their value to society? Do my decisions - to be honest, to obey laws, to not drink, to only have children after marriage, to be kind to others - lose their value because they are tied to my religious beliefs? Few people would argue that. Then why should my political efforts be harmful because my beliefs determine them?

Some may argue that it is because those decisions affect others. Perhaps you can come up with situations in which my honesty, obedience to laws, sobriety, abstinence, etc. affect only myself; my consistently living them, however, has greatest value because they affect others. So the affect on others can't be the division between valid religious actions in public and invalid. Perhaps these actions and the way I vote differ because others disagree with my vote. Many people, religious or secular, agree that the actions I listed before are good to some degree. Why? Because they improve society. Because of their effects, not because of their source.

The best way to evaluate something is to consider not its source, but its effects. If we were to practice this principle more carefully, then political discourse would not only be less caustic, but far more productive. We would be able to truly live the promises and ideals of this land, in which we claim that the government is "of the people, by the people, for the people." Let none of those people - black, white, male, female, religious or secular - be silenced.