Executive Summary

Trust is the invisible thread that weaves communities together. Without it, societies fragment; with it, they flourish. But where does trust come from? How do we cultivate this essential ingredient of human cooperation in an age of increasing isolation and skepticism?

In this article, we’ll examine the evidence for how faith fosters trust, drawing on insights from scholars like Robert Putnam, Francis Fukuyama, and others who have studied this relationship. We’ll see how religious communities create unique conditions for trust to flourish through shared values, regular interaction, and mutual accountability, and we’ll consider what these findings mean for our increasingly diverse and secular world.

Introduction

Throughout history, one of humanity’s most enduring institutions has served as a trust-building engine: faith. From small congregations gathering weekly in local churches, to vast religious networks spanning continents, faith communities have long provided the social infrastructure where trust takes root and grows.

This connection between faith and trust isn’t merely anecdotal. A growing body of research from economists, sociologists, and political scientists reveals measurable links between religious practice and the development of social trust.

The implications are far reaching, touching everything from entrepreneurship rates to the functioning of democratic institutions.

What Is Trust?

Problematically, there is no universally accepted definition of trust. As said by Wittgenstein in his Philosophical Investigations, “The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.” The idea of “trust” is no exception to this rule!

According to the article, What Is Trust?, which takes a view of the word “trust” over millennia, “Trust” can be comprehensively defined as:

“A fundamental psychological and moral state of confident reliance on others’ integrity and intentions, characterized by the voluntary acceptance of vulnerability based on beliefs rather than proof, which serves as both a survival instinct enabling human cooperation and the essential atmosphere in which all meaningful relationships, communities, and societal progress thrive.”

Trust Is An Externality

Trust is an example of what economists call “externalities”, Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow wrote, “Trust is an important lubricant of a social system… trust is a good, trust is a commodity, and trust has real, practical, economic value that increases the efficiency of a system. But, trust is not a commodity for which trade on the open market is technically possible or even meaningful… If you have to buy it, you already have some doubts about what you’ve bought.”

What Is Faith?

The definition of the word “faith” is much less changed over time than found in the word “trust”. When, according to Thomas Aquinas: Augustus says that “faith is a virtue whereby we believe what we do not see”, and Damascene says that “faith is an assent without research”, and Dionysius says that “faith is the solid foundation of the believer, establishing him in the truth, and showing forth the truth in him”, these various definitions of faith all amount to the same as that presented in Hebrews 11:2, which says: 

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Faith Is Trust In God

Taking together our definitions of “trust” and “faith”, we find that:

“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, a fundamental psychological and moral state of confident reliance on God, characterized by the voluntary acceptance of vulnerability based on beliefs rather than proof, which serves as both a survival instinct enabling human cooperation and the essential atmosphere in which all meaningful relationships, communities, and societal progress thrive.”

In short, faith is trust in God and hope of human cooperation, meaningful relationships, and societal progress. Faith is a shared value and a shared experience.

How Does Faith Lead To Trust?

Shared Values & Experiences Lead To Trust

In his famous work ‘Trust’ Francis Fukuyama wrote: “Out of shared values comes trust. As a general rule, trust arises when a community shares a set of moral values in such a way as to create expectations of regular and honest behavior.”

And, according to Jeffrey Gitomer, building trust takes time and shared experiences: “You cannot buy trust at any price. But slowly, over time, you can build trust for free… Dealings over time [and] personal relationships lead to trust”, he wrote in The Little Teal Book Of Trust. Gert Jan Hofstede, in his paper Trust and Transparency in Supply Netchains: A Contradiction?, further found that “trust builds gradually through shared experience”.

Finally, as according to Sanjeev Goyal, “overlapping social connections, links of intermarriage, common religious affiliation, and physical proximity, help in creating and sustaining trust”. 

Shared Values & Experiences Lead To Trust, Thus Faith Leads To Trust

Bringing the pieces together, if shared values and shared experiences lead to trust, and if faith is a shared value and a shared experience, then faith does lead to trust. This is confirmed by Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales (here and here): “Religious people trust others more, trust the government and the legal system more, are less willing to break the law, and are more likely to believe that markets’ outcomes are fair”.

Finally, easing any doubts as to the correlation of faith to the development of mutual trust: “Being raised religiously raises the level of trust by 2 percent. If a person regularly attends religious services, the level of trust increases by another 20 percent. This effect differs across denominations; while Catholic and Protestant have roughly a similar positive effect, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist do not.”

There is no doubt – faith does lead to trust. See below the chart “Effect Of Religion On Trust”, slightly modified from Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales.

Final Thoughts

Jean Bodin wrote, “A society or a community is rooted in mutual affection” and “There is no commonwealth where there is no common interest”. Put another way, society is rooted in shared values and experiences. When people practice their faith together, “know one another, interact with one another each week”, they have a “model and a moral foundation” and can trust one another to behave honorably, according to Robert Putnam.

If society is rooted in shared values and experiences, and faith is a shared value and a shared experience, then society is rooted in faith. If society is rooted in faith and trust is an externality – with real, economic value that increases the efficiency of a system – then our faith, by definition, must improve our society.

Therefore, understanding the relationship between faith and trust isn’t just an academic curiosity – it’s a vital consideration for anyone interested in doing their duty as a moral member of society.

Thanks for reading!