The results are much weaker if we use a measure of belief in God, rather than the
more concrete beliefs in hell, heaven, or an after-life.
In a specification comparable to those in columns 1 and 3 of Table 4, the estimated coefficients are -0.0092 (0.0030) on the monthly attendance variable and 0.0018 (0.0030) on the belief-in-God variable.
Thus, given church attendance, variations in professed belief in God have no explanatory
power for economic growth.
One possible reason is that most people in most countries reflexively answer yes to the question of whether they believe in God in some sense—the mean of the fraction of persons who expressed a belief in God in the full sample is 80%(see Table 3), much higher than the other beliefs (averages of 38% for hell, 55% for heaven, and 58% for an after-life).
Hence, the professed belief in God may signify little about the religious convictions that matter for economic performance.