Faith Counts Launches First Comprehensive Resource on Religion's Impact in America

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Faith Counts, a multi-faith nonprofit group, today launched a first-of-its-kind database that distills the latest research on how religion positively impacts the most important issues facing America.  

Religion in the United States today contributes a combined $1.2 trillion a year to the economy and society. However, studies highlighting the impact of faith and religion are often aimed at scholars and academics, making it difficult to find the meaningful information too often buried in published works that can be difficult for the non-scholar to navigate.

Faith Facts uses videos, infographics and shareables to pull out key data points to detail the invaluable role faith communities play in supporting the economy, healthcare, immigration, criminal justice, substance abuse and disaster relief. They have been particularly critical during this historically difficult period, supporting:

• Food insecurity:  53% of all food banks in the U.S. are faith-based 
• Disaster relief:  About 58% of all emergency shelter beds are faith-based 
• Pandemic healthcare capacity:  20% of all U.S. hospital beds and 1-in-7 hospitals are faith-based

"As a recent Pew study shows, the personal religiosity of Americans continues to decline. We'd like to gently remind people of the significant good that religious organizations and individuals do for our society and economy," said Kerry Troup, Communications Director of Faith Counts. "This database helps quantify religion's contributions in a way that is accessible, interesting and readily available."

Faith Facts also consolidates the latest news on how faith communities are affecting the country. Most importantly, it encompasses the contributions of a diverse range of faith communities, including and beyond the Judeo-Christian tradition. From Muslims running an entirely free health-care clinic in rural Alabama, to Christians providing life-saving services on the southern border, Faith Facts hopes to document data and examples to showcase the positive difference religion makes in America. 

Faith Facts is available here.

Faith Counts is a nonprofit, multi-faith organization comprised of faith communities representing nearly 100 million Americans to share a simple message that "faith counts" and share the good works of millions of Americans of every religion motivated by their faith to go and serve the most vulnerable among us. 

Official partners of Faith Counts represent diverse faith communities including Sikh American Legal Defense Fund, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Hillel International, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Episcopal Migration Ministries, The Salvation Army, Hindu American Foundation, the 1st Amendment Partnership and Franciscan University of Steubenville.  Faith Facts is made possible thanks to a grant provided by the Templeton Religion Trust.

Press Contact
Desair Shaw
202.629.4615
[email protected]

SOURCE Faith Counts