Black Churches Matter: Research Ties Attendance to Positive Outcomes: Several new studies build on past research to continue revealing how faith is associated with positive outcomes for black Americans amid the realities of discrimination and economic, political, and social inequality. In one study of black adults, neither education nor income predicted a sense of optimism—a hopeful attitude about the future linked to better physical and mental health and lower mortality rates. What mattered most was belief in a loving, merciful God.
