Most of us need help to stay on the straight and narrow.

Regular attendance at a place of worship can provide this help.

The fact that regular church attendance has been declining for decades is part of the reason for declining standards of ethics and morality in our country.

Most of us cannot maintain such standards without the help of a higher power and without associating with like-minded friends. We need to be regularly reminded of how we ought to act.

But there are many other side benefits of church attendance. We can hear great sermons; we can listen to uplifting music; we can do some singing (always good for the soul); and we can meet some new friends.

Also, because religious views today are so diverse, we can have the benefit of learning different points of view, all with the goal of self-improvement.

Finally, church attendance offers the possibility of finding transcendence, revelation, and, for some, salvation. All these experiences should be tempered with reason but there are an infinite variety of opportunities. Both you and society will benefit.