live longer?

[dashwood]

i watched a discussion program this morning 6.1.08 BBC1 uk, on which one of the guests, i forget his name but he has a book called "selfish capitalist" or something, said that belivers in religons not only live longer but have less instances of mental dissorder. i personaly think religose belife is a mental dissorder, but could he be on to something?
a sceptic could kill someone and then worry about it afterwords whereas a beliver could murder someone, go to confession and then feel smug because he can rest ashured that he will not go to hell.
as you can see i am a struggling ex cathlic:'(

[Pebble]

said that belivers in religons not only live longer but have less instances of mental dissorder. i personaly think religose belife is a mental dissorder, but could he be on to something?
:'(

I'm not sure this study would get the same results in Iraq, Palestine, Darfour etc. Basically there is a known association between religious obsessional behavior and avoidance of high risk social behaviors. One study has tried to correct for such bias, but any notion that all variables associated with religiosity have been accounted for is nonsense. So in essence nuns in peaceful countries live longer than others - why bother!

PS Doctor: Give up smoking, sex and drinking. Patient: Will that help me live longer? Doctor: No! But it will feel longer.

[tkingdoll]

Yes, I think the claim is not a new one, but for fairly obvious reasons. Religion often comes with abstinence, for example, from alcohol, multiple sexual partners, gluttony, and so on. These are things which could contribute to an unhealthy lifestyle (risk of heart disease, STDs, etc). And as Pebble says, there is also an avoidance of risky behaviour.

Secondly, the mental illness is, I believe, about the support network that surrounds the average religious person. But that also leads us to a theory that maybe it's a bias inherent in self-report. Do religious people admit, say, depression, as readily as the non-religious? Given the pressures of the community and the philosophy of overcoming struggle inherent in many doctrines, I can imagine that there's a lot of denial going on.

I knew two people who killed themselves through depression, both were religious (one Jewish and one Christian). Neither told anyone about their depression. What would be the point, when the answer would be "pray"?

However, I am pretty sure that there are studies which show that things like the length of the healing process following a bereavementis no different for those in a religious community than those not. I don't have links to those studies, but I will confirm with friends in the field whether or not that's the case.

[Cuddles]

a sceptic could kill someone and then worry about it afterwords whereas a beliver could murder someone, go to confession and then feel smug because he can rest ashured that he will not go to hell.

On the other hand, atheists don't believe in hell in the first place, so only religious people could ever have the fear of going there. As far as I'm aware, only Catholics have the confession thing, other brands of Christianity, and most other religions, expect you not to sin in the first place, so I'm not sure your argument really holds up.

[SKIRRID5]

Well, I'm 73 and reasonably healthy. Not only am I an atheist, I live alone, so I ought to drop off my twig any time if the surveys are right. I shall have to do my darndest to reach at least 90, just to score one for godlessness.

[dashwood]

they have banned smockers, drinkers and fat people some maybe athiests next? :'(