Jeffrey P. Utz, M.D. wrote:
> Interestingly, people who live their lives based on their religious beliefs,
> whether western religion, eastern religion, native American religion, or
> atheism live longer and healthier than those who don't. This kind of argues
> that people should live their lives according to their religion, whatever
> that is, doesn't it?
This also implies that there is one religious practice which optimizes
your health. A while back a study (Duke IIRC) showed that Southern
Baptists tend to be more overweight than the rest of the population.
Thus if health is the predominant concern for a person to pick a
religion, it is probably wise to pick the healthiest religion.
My personal feeling is that religious practice is correlated with
other factors. For example, people in cities tend not to attend
church because they are very busy. and precisely because of this
kind of stress they are not as healthy as those who have enough
leisure time to go to church. I'm willing to bet that using the
same statistical analysis you will find that people who knit
will live longer than those who don't. But that's just my guess,
maybe the researcher did control for that factor and I'm
way off...
--
Yang
a.a.#28
EAC mole and other furry creatures
rev #-273.15, high priest of the most frigid church of Kelvin
"I don't see Star Wars as profoundly religious. I see Star Wars as
taking all the issues that religion represents and trying to
distill them down into a more modern and easily accessible construct
--that there is a greater mystery out there. I remember when I was
10 years old, I asked my mother, "If there's only one God, why are
there so many religions?" I've been pondering that question ever
since, and the conclusion I've come to is that all the religions
are true."
George Lucas, Time Magazine, 4/17/1999
