Back when I was on the other side of the religious divide, I came across a study linking religion and society's ills. I fell on it with some enthusiasm, eager as I then was for any anti-religion ammunition. But the 2005 study by American social scientist Gregory Paul, published in the Journal of Religion and Society, was so clearly spurious, even to my biased eyes, that I never used it.

Paul's suggestion that the less religious a country was, the lower its rates of homicide, suicide, childhood mortality rates, abortion and teen pregnancy - ergo religion is bad for society - was undeniably attractive, and overseas media certainly thought so.

But as a damning critique by George H. Gallup Jr, of the Gallup research company, pointed out, it was biased research based on a flawed analysis, and didn't "pass scholarly muster". Gallup said Paul had ignored the weight of empirical evidence, "from parenting and fatherhood, to mental and physical health," which suggested religious commitment had notably positive effects on the individual and society at large.

Sure, wrote Gallup, "a great deal of evil in the world has been perpetrated in the name of religion by fanatics and persons with distorted agendas".

But the data was clear. Spiritual commitment "serves both as a brake on anti-social activities and a powerful impetus to pro-social, even sacrificial, behaviour and attitudes. And the deeper the spiritual commitment, the more pronounced the effects. Indeed, a mountain of survey data from the Gallup and other survey organisations shows that when educational background and other variables are held constant, persons who are 'highly spiritually committed' are far less likely to engage in antisocial behaviour than those less committed. They have lower rates of crime, excessive alcohol use, and drug addiction than other groups."

The deeply committed are also more hopeful about the future, experience greater joy in life, contribute more time to helping people, are less likely to be racist, and more giving and forgiving than others.

"They have bucked the trend of many in society toward narcissism and hedonism. Teens with deep spiritual commitment are far less likely to get into trouble and more likely than their counterparts to be happy, be goal-oriented, be hopeful about the future, see a reason for their existence, succeed better academically, and serve others."

This is not the picture of religion's malign influence on individuals and society that New Atheists like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris have painted but then, says Jonathan Haidt, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, and self-described secular liberal, they're not exactly unbiased.