Very Religious Americans Lead Healthier Lives. Thoughts?
I saw this:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/145379/Religious-Americans-Lead-Healthie...
Anyone have any thoughts as to why this may be? Personally, I feel that non-religious might be inclined to be a bit more honest in a survey. But that's, just my opinion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Galen on -
The more you know about the world we live in, the more stressful it is to live. Or, as the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss. I find that statement to be true and a less stressful life would certain be a healthier one :)
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Permalink Reply by Thew on -
Very well said, and I agree 100%. For nonbelievers, the burdens of life lie solely on the individual, not the invisible superman who loves and will take care of you at all costs. There are definite pros to being able to simply hand your problems over to a higher power. I've read many "thinkers" who have said they dearly wished they could believe as theists believe... just for the mental security and comfort that comes along with it. I'm envious of that aspect of it sometimes, myself.
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Permalink Reply by claudio fernando maciel on -
That's certainly a very religious thought!
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Permalink Reply by Allen Sneed on -
Obviously the study didn't take into account mental health.
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Permalink Reply by M on -
A lot of religions forbid things that are bad for you: alcohol, caffeine, vices such as cigarettes, etc. I'm sure that is a big part of it.
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Permalink Reply by Kai on -
I agree with everyone's points. Though, I'm still new and grasping the whole Pancake thing. Hopefully you don't think I'm arguing for the religious, because I'm not.
I know that surveys are always going to have problems and slants. I just found it interesting that when taken as a general result that they concluded that religious people lead healthier lives.
Though I suppose the definition of "healthier life" can be wide ranging. Many Scientologists and other cult members probably feel very healthy. Doesn't mean it's true. Especially mentally.
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Permalink Reply by Kai on
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Thanks for that. Hopefully I didn't come across as nonsensical, haha.
But I'm with the meme, now. Pancake it up.
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Permalink Reply by Bill on -
I was thinking that one reason atheists might have lower health on average compared to religious conservatives is probably because we are greater risk takers. Unless you came from a non-religious family, you had to take an incredible jump to go from religion to atheism. The ability to take that risk probably means that atheists may have been less risk averse toward other things along the way too, such as sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
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Permalink Reply by Wayne on -
Hmm... it depends, for those of the big three, that might actually be false, due to their belief in a second life, so this one would matter less... but then again I know a lot of physically fit religious people, there are a lot of other factors, having the belief that someone is up in the clouds tweaking reality to suit you can do wonders for stress for some. My answer is that it depends on the individual.
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Permalink Reply by An Atheist A Foxhole on -
Hi all. First time poster. Love the site. Lurked a little while, but do like what I am seeing.
As to this thread. I see a lot about the healthy lifestyle, but a few thing were forgotten in this study.
For example, they work out a lot more, and smoke less. But I seem to notice a lot of the same lot as of late doing:
1.Sexual abuse of minors
2.Drug usage
3.Gay prostitution/solicitation thereof
4.Addiction/rebound rates higher
I could go on, but I digress. And, those who have committed the above atrocities usual end up becoming born again somehow which allows them to be forgiven/moved to another parish/etc.
So, while they live longer, their constituents/victims don't? Just an idea, not set in stone, or given to a holy man on a hill or anything.
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Permalink Reply by Jarrod Payne on -
I think there are a few issues with the study from a methodological standpoint which need to be considered before we even get to the results.
Firstly random digit dialling would work in the US since most people have telephones. However, the time of day in which the calls were made may introduce a bias in the sample. More importantly for this though i think is volunteer bias. It seems, as someone posted earlier, that americans over report religious involvement and that this sample is perhaps overly religious which makes me think that those who volunteered were also those who generally dont respond truthfully. There is also the question of how they divided the sample using only 2 items, thats an issue for me.
As for the results, most of them are pretty small actually considering the sample size. I would like to see some standard deviations and ANOVA results with a very small p value since the sample is so big and not just a presented mean difference between religious and non-religious.
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