If you get off that track (or never started on it), the U.S. is a more difficult place in which to thrive. What’s more, they write:Modern American churches are financially incentivized to target the wealthy and create a space where those on track feel comfortable. Not because I think people need to be religious to live good lives — I don’t believe that — but because almost everyone needs community to flourish. As the Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, whom I spoke to for this series and who wrote “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” has been preaching for decades, increasing social isolation is bad for all of us. At the same time, examples of that kind of grace don’t erase the damage that is sometimes done in the name of religion.

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Persons: “, Robert Putnam, ”, Carson Curtis, ” Burge, Burge, Frank Capra, I’ve Organizations: Harvard, American Community Locations: America, U.S, Arizona