Not exactly the New England Journal of Medicine but interesting in light of the other God debate topic:

One nugget, however, “blew my socks off,” Powell says. People who regularly attend church have a 25 percent reduction in mortality—that is, they live longer—than people who are not churchgoers. This is true even after controlling for variables intrinsically linked to Sundays in the pew, like social support and healthy lifestyle. While the data were culled mainly from Christian churchgoers, Powell says the findings should apply to any organized religion. “This is really powerful,” she says....

Kenneth Pargament, a psychology professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, studied the religious coping methods of almost 600 patients with diseases from gastrointestinal disorders to cancer. Those who thought God was punishing them or abandoning them were up to 30 percent more likely to die over the next two years. “Spiritual struggles are red flags,” says Pargament. “We don’t want to turn the medical profession into clergy, but to treat these struggles as divorced from the patient’s medical problems is shortsighted.” http://www.msnbc.com/news/987695.asp?cp1=1

I don't have a clue how valid the various studies are (and the article makes that point) or what they mean -- but they're interesting.

I don't think that living longer has anything to do with whether or not you go to church. I believe it has to do with how spiritual you are. Some people have a very deep relationship with God, yet do not attend church, because they do not agree with that particular view. The more spiritual you are, the better you are able to deal with the things that life will throw at you. Less stress in your life, and you should live longer.

Makes sense to me at least.

Maybe people who feel they have support recover more easily. They have some aim in life, so they live through all of it and don't give up etc etc. In most religions drinking or drugging up yourself into oblivion is forbidden, so is gratuitous sex with strangers and other things that contribute to unhealthy lifestyle. Then you also have specific diets in some religions that seem quite appropriate for the climate and so on.

I also think that the comfort that having a faith and the knowledge it gives that everything will work out also may help people live longer with the peace of mind it may bring with it.

Then the support you might get from a community like a church might also help you deal with the problems that life throw at you.

My brother is a surgeon and has found that when he prays for his patients, the surgeries work out better. This is a big admission for him, as he is a very nuts-and-bolts kinda guy.

The power of the mind is strong. If you really belive that a god is looking out for you, it gives you comfort and optimism. It also gives you an explaination to all the setbacks in life there might not appear to have a reason. I remember being taught in school about how the blacksmiths back in the iron age served as a kind of shaman. He had the power to forge metal, therefore he also had the power to kill using mystical powers. If he told a man that he had put a curse on him, that man would believe him so strongly that he would be dead the next day.

In my oppinion however, living in the 21st century and still believe in ANY god as a divine being, is so utter and completely naive, that it bears no equal. Believing in the virtues of a religion is a whole other thing though.

@ Chevalier

In most religions drinking or drugging up yourself into oblivion is forbidden, so is gratuitous sex with strangers and other things that contribute to unhealthy lifestyle. The studies seem to recognize that those who go to church more often are also more likely to make different life-style choices than those who don't go to church often. So, the studies purport to take this into consideration and the one quoted says even after controlling for life-style choices church goers still have a 25% reduction in mortality.

It's a causal problem - does going to church (which is just a good indicator of being spiritual - there is a correlation; you could be spiritual and not go or go and not be spiritual but there probably is a strong correlation between being spiritual and going) cause better health or is it just that people who are more likely to go to church more likely to make other healthy choices?

The studies recognize this and purport to take it into account - and still show that spiritual beliefs affect health (both positively and negatively).

Edit to add an offtopic response to above - though an atheist, I don't think believing in God is naive. IMO, Kant convinced me that it is equally as reasonable to believe in God as it is to believe there is no God.

Im chirstian, I believe in Jesus n all, and I practically never go to church anymore (I have video games to play!), but I still read the bible daily n resist temptations faced daily (Im a paladin! I kill dragons across Faerun.! so I can also kill my temptations! :D )

I think the mortality rate is due to trusting that God has your back when your back is against the wall (stress reliever knowing that the big guy is on your side--like a Cleric of Lothander!)

and you are not worried about the diseases that drinking too much (because drinking is allowed--Jesus first miracle was turning water into wine--POLYMORPH!--just don't get drunk-keep your intelligence and wisdom young adventurer!) and pre-marital sex (STD's and emotional stress it too often leads to) can give you.

Just my two ugly red cents :D

There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. -- Hamlet

Just Shakespeare's two cents.

I think God tends to serve that place in all of us that is lost without understanding.

We conjure up this omnipotent being because if 'he' is around then this vast universe is no longer as scary as it seems. If he's around then things that happen to us, happen to us 'for a reason'.

He fills these certain psychological needs that we as human beings tend to have. God the provider, God the judge, God the creator.

As for what good if any religion has on the health of the average person, I'll take these studies with a grain of salt. I'd have to incestigate further though as it does sound interesting.


Prayer on ther hand has been shown to have absolutely no statistical merit whatsoever.

Certainly for me, my faith is what kleeps me going through a lot of the mierde that I've been through, faith and good friends. I usually don't make a big thing of God being part of it because He understands that I know He helps me when I need it and I thank Him for it. Anyway, back on topic, it's probably (just as has been said a couple times already) just that kind of faith which helps people live longer, the faith that when you're floating in the open sea, God will send you a helicopter or a boat, as well as the good sense to take that help rather than wiat for God Himself to pick you up with His own hand.

I will not present my views on this, and the metaphysical aspects, because I cannot know of their validity, and have been doing too much of this at late.

One reason for this effect however, allthough I do agree with the reasons that you all have allready suggested, could be the mental, emotional, and spiritual balancing that is symbiotic with the physical body.

The physical benefits of mediation are well documented, and now have become the sole reason many people take up the practice - where before they were usually thought of as merely a beneficial side-effect to the true purposes of pursuing such a thing.

However, I doubt this is the case. It seems more likely to me that many of the people who attend church come from a background of such - so not only would they have a healthier life-stye, but would have inherited healthier genes from their ancestors who lived likewise.

As I said before, I add these only in addition to the the likely reasons that have been previously mentioned.