Relationship of Church Giving to Immunological and Txpa Stress Response

Current research indicates that theistic religious values are positively correlated with good health. Financial giving, an index of sincere faith, and acute psychological stress response were explored in this study of 38 community adults. A sample reporting much financial giving to an organized place of worship was compared to a group reporting little giving. Volunteers were exposed to a standard psychological stressor, mirror tracing with noise. Group differences were found for a number of immunological and other psychological responses (e.g., monocyte levels, electromyograph indices) in response to both the stressor and the group factor. Further, the Give Little group had significantly higher anger and hostility measures, lower forgiveness levels, and poorer stress coping strategies than the Give Much group. The Give Much group generally had baseline and stress response indices that were more consistent with good health than the Give Little group. This heuristic investigation suggests that church financial giving may relate to psychological and physiological factors that promote good health although study limitations restrict extrapolation from this research.