Human flourishing — the outlook individuals have on their current and future life prospects — is traditionally associated with a thriving economy, strong institutions and vibrant communities. Now recent research suggests religious liberty, too, has significant effects on bolstering human well-being.
A paper published earlier this month by Christos A. Makridis, drawing on a sample of some 150 countries from 2006 to 2018, suggested that religious freedom has a greater positive effect on human flourishing than many other factors, even economic freedom. Year-to-year increases in religious liberty, wrote Makridis, led to higher probabilities that individuals thrive.
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