Bible study offers antidote to loneliness, study shows

PHILADELPHIA (BP)—The Bible protects against what the U.S. surgeon general has termed an “epidemic of loneliness” as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, the American Bible Society said in releasing its latest chapter of the 2024 State of the Bible.

Bible engagement, forgiveness and church attendance all offer individual antidotes to loneliness, decreasing the malady by more than 50 percent, the American Bible Society said.

Scripture engagement offers interaction with a God who loves “with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3) and a God whom the Psalmist in Psalm 139:3 said was familiar with all of his ways, the American Bible Society stated, and encourages church attendance that provides avenues for meaningful relationships.

Statistically, nearly 75 percent of all Americans report moderate to high levels of loneliness that lead to poor health outcomes. It also costs employers an estimated $154 billion annually in absences attributed to stress created by loneliness, the surgeon general said in 2023, and it costs $6.7 billion annually in excess Medicare spending among socially isolated older adults.

But when the Bible enters the equation, only 11 percent of Scripture-engaged respondents reported high levels of loneliness, compared to 22 percent of those considered Bible-disengaged, with Scripture engagement defined as those who score 100 or higher on a scale judging the frequency of Bible readership and its impact on and centrality to a reader’s daily life.

Among churchgoers, only 12 percent of those who attend church weekly report high levels of loneliness, compared to 25 percent of those who never attend.

Regarding forgiveness, 16 percent of those strongly able and somewhat able to forgive reported high levels of loneliness, compared to 36 percent of those strongly unable to forgive, and 22 percent of those somewhat unable to forgive.

Otherwise, loneliness varied by generation and gender. In American Bible Society research, 37 percent of Gen Z females reported high levels of loneliness, compared to 18 percent of Gen Z males; with 49 percent of Gen Z females reporting moderate levels of loneliness, compared to 59 percent of males of that generation. Only 14 percent of Gen Z females reported low levels of loneliness, compared to 23 percent of Gen Z males.

Lowest levels of loneliness were found among older Americans, whom the American Bible Society grouped in the Boomer-plus category.

Here, males and females equally reported high levels of loneliness at 11 percent, followed by 53 percent of female and 49 percent of males reporting moderate levels of loneliness, and 36 percent of females and 40 percent of males reporting low levels of loneliness.

And while wealth widely is considered limited in achieving mental well-being, annual income levels above $100,000 correlated with lower levels of loneliness, researchers found, with 13 percent of those in that income bracket reporting high levels of loneliness, compared to 33 percent of those earning less than $20,000.

Researchers also graded respondents with a loneliness score based on the University of California at Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, resulting in an overall score of 5 to 20, with the average for all respondents settling at 11.9.

State of the Bible is based on a nationally representative survey conducted for the American Bible Society by NORC at the University of Chicago, using the AmeriSpeak panel. Findings are based on 2,506 online interviews conducted in January 2024 with adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.