Religion and Health
1. Mortality rates. Mortality rates for men and women who frequently attend religious services appear to be lower than the rates for those who attend less often. full details
2. Cancer rates. People who attend religious services more frequently tend to be less likely to succumb to cancer than those who attend less frequently, even when taking into account age and gender. full details
3. Stress. Individuals who attend religious services more frequently exhibit, on average, lower levels of stress than peers who attend less often. full details
4. Mental and emotional health. People who frequently participate in religious social activities and pray with others are less likely than less religiously involved peers to exhibit depression, anxiety disorder, and phobia. full details
5. Preventive health care. Elderly men and women who consider religion to be very important in their lives are more likely to avail themselves of preventive health services than peers who say religion is not important to them. full details
6. Pulmonary function. Rates of decline in pulmonary function among the elderly who attend religious services regularly are, on average, one-half the rate for peers who never attend. full details
7. Mothers’ religious attendance and adolescents’ well-being. Among a sample of 150 adolescents, those whose mothers attended religious services frequently and considered religion to be important in their lives were less likely to experience major depression than peers whose mothers had lower levels of religiosity. full details
8. Fathers’ church attendance and children’s well-being. Kindergarteners and first-graders whose fathers frequently attend religious services are less likely to say they were sad or lonely than peers whose fathers do not attend as often. full details
9. Adolescents and suicide. On average, youths who attend religious services and activities more often and assign a higher importance to religion in their lives are less likely to think of suicide or attempt suicide. full details
10. Life satisfaction. Compared with individuals who seldom or never attend religious services, those who attend at least weekly are more likely to say that they are very happy with their lives and optimistic about the future. full details
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From the Heritage Foundation
I am guessing this is supposed to be good news, and in many ways it is, but underneath there is something unnerving about the statistics above. If you read the above carefully, you will notice that the word “church” wasn’t used, just “religious services.”
I have a problem with that phrase because it creates false impressions:
1. . All religions are essentially the same.
2. Sincerity beats truth.
3. Religions have the primary focus on enriching this life as opposed to dealing with eternity.
To be fair, I have not been able to access the complete studies to see how these terms are used and the actual statistics. On the other hand, the article is what people are getting, not the actual data.
What do you think? How should Christians interpret articles like this? Am I missing the mark here?
