Comments on: More evidence of the upside of religion . . . and the downside. http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/06/15/more-evidence-of-the-upside-of-religion-and-the-downside/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:52:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Alison http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/06/15/more-evidence-of-the-upside-of-religion-and-the-downside/comment-page-1/#comment-42530 Alison Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:58:24 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=7541#comment-42530 It's the combination of a stress-reducing mental activity (meditation, prayer, even journaling or talk therapy!) and community. People change churches and even religions when one or both of these two things don't meet their needs. It's the easiest way to get both calmness and community in one package. It's not the only way, though. I wouldn't classify many of the things I do to bring peace and happiness to my life as "spiritual", but other people might. And as for community, I've found that in a group of parents who are diverse in their beliefs, but united in their support for their children and the school marching band. We spend a lot of time together, socializing as well as volunteering, and I know that when I come home from the hospital on Friday, I'll be able to count on them to help me and keep me company just as certainly as if it were a religious community. So next time someone's doing an experiment on this, measure me and people like me next to the religious, and you won't see quite so much of a statistical difference in health and happiness. It’s the combination of a stress-reducing mental activity (meditation, prayer, even journaling or talk therapy!) and community. People change churches and even religions when one or both of these two things don’t meet their needs. It’s the easiest way to get both calmness and community in one package.

It’s not the only way, though. I wouldn’t classify many of the things I do to bring peace and happiness to my life as “spiritual”, but other people might. And as for community, I’ve found that in a group of parents who are diverse in their beliefs, but united in their support for their children and the school marching band. We spend a lot of time together, socializing as well as volunteering, and I know that when I come home from the hospital on Friday, I’ll be able to count on them to help me and keep me company just as certainly as if it were a religious community.

So next time someone’s doing an experiment on this, measure me and people like me next to the religious, and you won’t see quite so much of a statistical difference in health and happiness.

]]> By: grumpypilgrim http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/06/15/more-evidence-of-the-upside-of-religion-and-the-downside/comment-page-1/#comment-42503 grumpypilgrim Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:35:39 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=7541#comment-42503 "Religion and spiritual practices generally have a positive effect on one’s physical, emotional and neurological health...." First, we need to remember that correlation is not causation: perhaps the above-mentioned correlation merely suggests that people who are more physically, emotionally & neurologically healthy tend to be more engaged in spiritual practices. This would make sense because spiritual practices are one of many types of social activity, and certainly it is true that healthy people tend to be more social than unhealthy ones. Second, we need to carry the research a bit further: even if there is a causal relationship between spiritual activity and better health, what aspect of the spiritual activity might be responsible for the better health? I ask this question because studies have also shown that people who tend to live longer, healthier lives also tend to be more socially connected. Thus, perhaps spiritual activity per se is not what leads to better health, but rather the social aspect (or some other aspect) of spiritual activity. Who knows, perhaps all the singing of hymns and chanting of Amens strenghtens peoples' pulmonary systems. Many religions also have healthful rules related to everything from diet, to alcohol, to taking a weekly day of rest. Contrarily, some religions have unhealthful rules, such as bans on the use of medical vaccines, condoms, other proven medical practices. More detail is needed to find out what the real linkages are between health and spirituality. “Religion and spiritual practices generally have a positive effect on one’s physical, emotional and neurological health….”

First, we need to remember that correlation is not causation: perhaps the above-mentioned correlation merely suggests that people who are more physically, emotionally & neurologically healthy tend to be more engaged in spiritual practices. This would make sense because spiritual practices are one of many types of social activity, and certainly it is true that healthy people tend to be more social than unhealthy ones.

Second, we need to carry the research a bit further: even if there is a causal relationship between spiritual activity and better health, what aspect of the spiritual activity might be responsible for the better health? I ask this question because studies have also shown that people who tend to live longer, healthier lives also tend to be more socially connected. Thus, perhaps spiritual activity per se is not what leads to better health, but rather the social aspect (or some other aspect) of spiritual activity. Who knows, perhaps all the singing of hymns and chanting of Amens strenghtens peoples’ pulmonary systems. Many religions also have healthful rules related to everything from diet, to alcohol, to taking a weekly day of rest. Contrarily, some religions have unhealthful rules, such as bans on the use of medical vaccines, condoms, other proven medical practices. More detail is needed to find out what the real linkages are between health and spirituality.

]]> By: Mindy Carney http://dangerousintersection.org/2009/06/15/more-evidence-of-the-upside-of-religion-and-the-downside/comment-page-1/#comment-42468 Mindy Carney Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:10:32 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=7541#comment-42468 But don't meditation and yoga and the like also benefit our health and well-being? I don't think religion alone benefits us in these ways. And I would argue that were the DI community meeting once each week in person, we might well be willing to take care of a fellow author should tragedy befall him or her. Communities that focus on positive activity, whether it be for religious reasons or not, benefit the participants all the ways discussed. Whether the activity be educating our children (think about our parent community, Erich, extremely secular and many of whom stepped in to help me with a car to drive, job leads, etc. over the past year), creating (think women's quilting bees old), working for a cause like Half the Sky Foundation (www.halfthesky.org - I use this because it is strictly secular and I've participated for years) or a cancer support/fundraising group - all of those organizations involve emotional support of fellow human beings outside the scope of religion, and create the same positives in the lives of the participants. But don’t meditation and yoga and the like also benefit our health and well-being? I don’t think religion alone benefits us in these ways. And I would argue that were the DI community meeting once each week in person, we might well be willing to take care of a fellow author should tragedy befall him or her. Communities that focus on positive activity, whether it be for religious reasons or not, benefit the participants all the ways discussed. Whether the activity be educating our children (think about our parent community, Erich, extremely secular and many of whom stepped in to help me with a car to drive, job leads, etc. over the past year), creating (think women’s quilting bees old), working for a cause like Half the Sky Foundation (www.halfthesky.org - I use this because it is strictly secular and I’ve participated for years) or a cancer support/fundraising group - all of those organizations involve emotional support of fellow human beings outside the scope of religion, and create the same positives in the lives of the participants.

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