Giving Compass' Take:

· Futurity discusses new research which suggests that socially isolated religious people may use God to fill the void to help them feel a sense of belonging. 

· How does religion impact the way individuals lead their lives? How does it impact social situations and personal relationships? 

· Additional research shows that Americans are becoming more socially isolated.

Belonging is related to a sense of purpose. When people feel like they don’t belong or that their relationships aren’t supporting them, they consistently have a lower sense of purpose and direction in life, says lead author Todd Chan, a doctoral student in the psychology department at the University of Michigan.

Chan and colleagues say that having a belief system that adequately “substitutes” for some of the functions of human relationships, like having a God that values and supports them, may allow socially disconnected people to restore some of this purpose.

For the socially disconnected, God may serve as a substitutive relationship that compensates for some of the purpose that human relationships would normally provide.

In three separate studies, the researchers analyze the responses from 19,775 people who described their purpose in life, levels of loneliness, the quality of their friendships, and religious beliefs.

These beliefs generally provide social comfort. The research shows that seeing God as your friend when you are already socially connected actually provides minimal additional benefit for purpose in life.

Read the full article about socially isolated religious people by Jared Wadley-Michigan at Futurity.