Does Belief In God Better Your Health?
During the last few years, I have witnessed first-hand the
increasing anti-religion movement upon which the United States
was originally founded. With items such as removing prayer from
schools to banning the public display of the Nativity Scene, and
let's not forget the person who wanted to sue congress for
mentioning God in the Pledge of Allegiance, it would seem that
quite a few Americans have developed a sour taste to the notion
of a celestial god. Granted, my encounters of such behavior are
more frequent since I currently reside in one of the most
liberal states of America, nevertheless, the truth remains that
religion seems to not be as important as it once was. The key
word here is 'seems'.
In August 2005, Newsweek Magazine published a survey that noted
519 million people believe in THE higher power. While "THE" is
subjective to each individual, it falls within the many American
melting pot religions that turn to divinity for comfort. Also
noteworthy is a recent news story. One church managed to drudge
its way past celebrity gossip, wartime casualties and disastrous
weather forecasts right smack into the media spotlight. Looks
like religion really does still exist since this particular
church, Lakewood Church, out of Houston Texas just became what
is called a "mega-church". This title belongs to only a few in
the United States, and to be deserving of such a label takes
massive accomplishment. In this case, having a physical weekly
congregation of approximately 30,000 people and claiming NBA's
Houston Rockets former coliseum as its new home. Further, if the
number of parishioners is impressive to you, let it be known
that preacher Joel Osteen inspires even more people across the
country with his televised Sunday morning ministry, which can be
found in competitive timeslots to your local Sunday morning
service as well as late night hours throughout the week. But
what does this mean to the health industry?
In 2005 after a two-year study on participants attending a
weekly religious service, research indicated that a spiritual
enthusiast actually experiences above-average health. This
reduction in illness includes physical ailments as well as
mental afflictions, such as depression. And even more
interesting is that the mortality rate is lowered over measured
periods of time, with one panel's research showing a 25% lower
rate of death in those attending a weekly religious service.
While some once-skeptical medical professors now support the
notion that belief in God is associated to health benefits,
other researchers excuse the better health as simply a less
risky lifestyle of those who follow the faith. For instance,
someone striving to be a good Christian may lower there alcohol
consumption. In this case, it is possibly the lowered alcohol
consumption that actually decreases the chance of illness.
Another example would be a person intent upon living a
moralistic lifestyle based on religious beliefs may have a lower
involvement in casual sex encounters, thereby lowering the
chance of contracting disease. And finally, the practice of
prayer and meditation lowers the incidence of stress. The
latter, a well known factor in many heart disease pre-cursor
conditions.
While the proof of a divine higher being will remain a mystery
all the days of our life, quite a few professionals agree that
there are definite positive benefits associated with being a
believer. Number one, we cannot control our lives nor everyone
in them, no matter how hard we try. When the chips are down in
these instances, what better way to turn the reigns over to
another source and alleviate a moment or two of inner turmoil
and angst. Number two, it is highly likely that the majority of
people who attend church really do want and strive to be good
people, no matter what their human tendencies may default to,
post service. And finally, if and when we do arrive at that
celestial set of white pearly gates, we will have walked the
walk of faith and will promptly gain entrance with our
well-merited one way golden ticket.