Benefits of Regular Church Attendance:

On this Easter Weekend we're showing the myriad benefits of regular church attendance.  While this may not surprise believers it might surprise non-believers.  Amazing but regular religious attendance has been shown to:

Frequent religious attendance tends to increase students’ total years of schooling. Students who attend church weekly while growing up have significantly more years of total schooling by their early 30s than peers who do not attend church at all.

The benefits that students receive from weekly religious attendance are equivalent to the benefits that come from a mother who has three years of extra education and a father with four years of extra education.
Religious practice seems to benefit the education of the poor even more than it does that of advantaged children. An analysis of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health found that church attendance strengthens educational progress among children in high-poverty neighborhoods.
For the poor, the positive effect of religious practice is significant because it is one of the few robust positive influences in their lives. As the level of poverty rises within the neighborhood, the relationship between church attendance and being on-track in school becomes more positive, indicating what Dr. Fagan calls a “uniquely protective influence of church attendance” among youth in more impoverished neighborhoods when compared with their devout counterparts in more prosperous neighborhoods “Other studies,” writes Dr. Fagan, “confirm religion’s beneficial effects on the academic performance of children in urban communities.”
William Jeynes, Professor of Education at California State University Long Beach, found that “very religious” high school adolescents from urban communities fared better academically than non-religious adolescents.The importance of Dr. Fagan’s report is that it serves as a valuable guide for parents wanting the best for their children. Contrary to the popular image of Hollywood parents who encourage their children to be agnostic or atheist, parents who want their children to achieve will get them into church.
“Spiritual and religious involvement affects educational outcomes more than income does,” wrotes Fagan. “One analysis of tenth grade students found that, for both black and white students, the impact of pro-social values was stronger than the effect of socioeconomic status on reading and math proficiency (44 percent greater for white students and 51 percent greater for black students). That study also showed that holding religious values was associated with higher math scores for black students. “In summary,” writes. Dr. Fagan, “regular religious practice is repeatedly associated with higher educational performance and attainment. An increase in religious practice is associated with an increase in educational performance. Teens who are devoutly religious have higher educational expectations for themselves.

And there's more:

“Specifically, the available data clearly indicate that religious belief and practice are associated with the following list of benefits:”Higher levels of marital happiness and stability;Stronger parent-child relationships;Greater educational aspirations and attainment, especially among the poor;Higher levels of good work habits;Greater longevity and physical health;Higher levels of well-being and happiness;Higher recovery rates from addictions to alcohol or drugs;Higher levels of self-control, self-esteem, and coping skills;Higher rates of charitable donations and volunteering; andHigher levels of community cohesion and social support for those in need. Evidence further demonstrates, writes Dr. Fagan, that religious belief and practice are also associated with:Lower divorce rates:Lower cohabitation rates;Lower rates of out-of-wedlock births;Lower levels of teen sexual activity;Less abuse of alcohol and drugs;Lower rates of suicide, depression, and suicide ideation;Lower levels of many infectious diseases;Less juvenile crime;Less violent crime; andLess domestic violence.

No other dimension of life in America does more to promote the well-being and soundness of the nation’s civil society than citizens’ regular attendance at church, says Dr. Fagan.

Read more: http://blog.beliefnet.com/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars/2011/08/church-kids-are-less-likely-to-divorce-or-live-in-poverty.html#ixzz1rMG0WF9i