Health and Religion

[crwth]

I do not believe that religion can help a sick person get healed. Maybe this is the effect of auto-suggestion, in which a person heals himself. Or maybe this god helps a person to be healed. But not religion and religious figures

In most cases, faith and self-hypnosis help to heal. Religion as a doctor can only advise something, but the main process of healing is in the person himself.

This, then, is part of your religion, right?   

It also affects how you think, if you think that you can be healed by the power of God from above, maybe, just maybe you will be. You can never know what is the real truth as long as you believe, it's okay.

[SimmonenY]

A person needs to believe in something to be reassured that everything will be ok. By praying your brain reassures itself, finds strength to go further, it's like spiritual selfmotivation. I think the same happens when you take a placebo - you convince yourself that the pill will fight the disease. And if we are talking about mental health then religion sometimes may become a placebo instead of a pill.

[usefrees]

A person needs to believe in something to be reassured that everything will be ok. By praying your brain reassures itself, finds strength to go further, it's like spiritual selfmotivation. I think the same happens when you take a placebo - you convince yourself that the pill will fight the disease. And if we are talking about mental health then religion sometimes may become a placebo instead of a pill.

Not religion, and self-hypnosis can help get better. The human brain by the power of thought is able to heal itself or vice versa to create a disease without any prayer.

[Mometaskers]

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

[BADecker]

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

When you look at the definition of religion (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/religion?s=t), you see that everybody has, at least, a personal religion. People who are less healthy simply have a more flawed personal religion.

Same said regarding war. Islam has conquered much because Islam is a strong religion. America is conquering Islam because Christianity is stronger.

Note that it is not the Christians who are conquering Islam over in the Middle East. Whatever the religion of the American soldiers is, they are conquering Islam for the Christians in America and the world, at God's direction.

[PetroffVany]

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

Here the comparison will be more correct not with a religious person and an atheist, but with an optimist and a pessimist.

[Barkly186]

Religion and health are incompatible. While you will be praying for you to come back health it may be too late. On the other hand are not gods, but doctors can restore your health without any prayers.

[TheCoinGrabber]

Someone pointed this thread from a thread discussing high suicide rates in Japan. I don't believe Japan's problems with suicide and low birth rate comes from a lack of religion, they're quite spiritual. I would say it's all cultural and economic.

They're not the blunt types like Americans, they're very polite and don't show their emotions that much. Education and work there is also very competitive like in the rest of east Asia and some just can't handle the pressure.

As for their low birth rate, it seems they're avoiding it because of the economy (which is ok but not expanding) and the cost of living.

[CoinCube]

Religious Affiliation and Suicide Attempt
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.12.2303

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have investigated the association between religion and suicide either in terms of Durkheim’s social integration hypothesis or the hypothesis of the regulative benefits of religion. The relationship between religion and suicide attempts has received even less attention.

METHOD: Depressed inpatients (N=371) who reported belonging to one specific religion or described themselves as having no religious affiliation were compared in terms of their demographic and clinical characteristics.

RESULTS: Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members. Furthermore, subjects with no religious affiliation perceived fewer reasons for living, particularly fewer moral objections to suicide. In terms of clinical characteristics, religiously unaffiliated subjects had more lifetime impulsivity, aggression, and past substance use disorder. No differences in the level of subjective and objective depression, hopelessness, or stressful life events were found.

CONCLUSIONS: Religious affiliation is associated with less suicidal behavior in depressed inpatients. After other factors were controlled, it was found that greater moral objections to suicide and lower aggression level in religiously affiliated subjects may function as protective factors against suicide attempts. Further study about the influence of religious affiliation on aggressive behavior and how moral objections can reduce the probability of acting on suicidal thoughts may offer new therapeutic strategies in suicide prevention.

Japan: The Most Religious Atheist Country
https://blog.gaijinpot.com/japan-religious-atheist-country/

However when a subsequent Gallup poll asked about atheism, it discovered that 31% of Japanese people were also willing to check the ‘convinced atheist’ box. If the phrase ‘religiously unaffiliated’ was used instead of ‘atheist’, the yes-result was a jaw-dropping 57%.

[Mometaskers]

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

Religion is not the only hobby in town. 

There are plenty of hobbies that will provide ways to socialize with other people.

Yup, but in many places religion makes up most of the socializing events, for example festivals and holidays. In many cases, it is also part of family occasions. It also seem to be more "natural" since you don't need to search for it, you are already automatically joined.

Would be fun if we actually have a Pastafarian event here, just for fun, but very unlikely to happen in my country.

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

When you look at the definition of religion (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/religion?s=t), you see that everybody has, at least, a personal religion. People who are less healthy simply have a more flawed personal religion.

Same said regarding war. Islam has conquered much because Islam is a strong religion. America is conquering Islam because Christianity is stronger.

Note that it is not the Christians who are conquering Islam over in the Middle East. Whatever the religion of the American soldiers is, they are conquering Islam for the Christians in America and the world, at God's direction.

And where do you get this strong vs weak religion? It's just the strength of the nation, the religion of those involved in the conflict don't matter. Americans are not conquering those areas for Christians coz if they are, then occupation would have been followed by making Christianity the state religion, just like what Arabs did when they conquered for their god.

[kpcian]

Religion is nothing but a disciplinary way, it shows the way how you behave and how you maintain your Life. If you follow the instructions of any religion then you can lead a peaceful life. Discipline can bring your good health. So regular life is the way of making good health.
So there is a relationship between religion and good health.

[molsewid]

I do not believe that religion can help a sick person get healed. Maybe this is the effect of auto-suggestion, in which a person heals himself. Or maybe this god helps a person to be healed. But not religion and religious figures

Keep on believing people who don't lose faith to him will be granted like what i've always watching on t.v there always be a miracle happens when you always say his name pray for him every time you fall sleep not the religion it self but when you do ask him for your forgiveness then it is time to heal you.

[Samadur]

Religion is nothing but a disciplinary way, it shows the way how you behave and how you maintain your Life. If you follow the instructions of any religion then you can lead a peaceful life. Discipline can bring your good health. So regular life is the way of making good health.
So there is a relationship between religion and good health.

If taken in moderation.  Too much of it, and you become paranoid, schizophrenic, serial or mass murderer.

Regardless, it is a very dangerous poison IMHO.  Just like alcohol or drugs, religious ideology can fuck up your thinking.

I agree. Too much religion has a negative impact on the mental, and over time and on the person's physical health.

[CoinCube]

Religion is nothing but a disciplinary way, it shows the way how you behave and how you maintain your Life. If you follow the instructions of any religion then you can lead a peaceful life. Discipline can bring your good health. So regular life is the way of making good health.
So there is a relationship between religion and good health.

If taken in moderation.  Too much of it, and you become paranoid, schizophrenic, serial or mass murderer.

Regardless, it is a very dangerous poison IMHO.  Just like alcohol or drugs, religious ideology can fuck up your thinking.

I agree. Too much religion has a negative impact on the mental, and over time and on the person's physical health.

The two of you may benefit from giving this issue some more thought.

Atheism and Mass Murder
http://www.conservapedia.com/Atheism_and_Mass_Murder

Concerning atheism and mass murder, Christian apologist Gregory Koukl wrote that "the assertion is that religion has caused most of the killing and bloodshed in the world. There are people who make accusations and assertions that are empirically false. This is one of them."[1] Koukl details the number of people killed in various events involving theism and compares them to the much higher tens of millions of people killed under atheistic communist regimes, in which militant atheism served as the official doctrine of the state.[1]

Communist regimes killed 60 million in the 20th century through genocide, according to Le Monde, more than 100 million people[2] according to The Black Book of Communism (Courtois, Stéphane, et al., 1997).[3] and according to Cleon Skousen[4] in his best-selling book The Naked Communist.[5]

It is estimated that in the past 100 years, governments under the banner of atheistic communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 and 259,432,000 human lives.[6] Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term democide (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.[7]

The Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established a state which was anti-Roman Catholicism/Christian in nature [8] (anti-clerical deism and anti-religious atheism during the Enlightenment played a significant role in the French Revolution[9][10]), with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during this time thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine.[11] Although Communism is one of the most well-known cases of atheism's ties to mass murder, the French Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror, inspired by the works of Diderot, Voltaire, Sade, and Rousseau, managed to commit similar persecutions and exterminations of religious people and promote secularism and militant atheism. Official numbers indicate that 300,000 Frenchmen died during Robespierre's Reign of Terror, 297,000 of which were of middle-class or low-class.[12] Of the amount murdered via the guillotine, only 8% had been of the aristocratic class, with over 30% being from the peasant class.[13]

One of the most well known cases of mass murder during the French Revolution was the genocide at Vendée, which has yet to be officially recognized as genocide. Some estimates indicated that Robespierre and the Jacobins planned to massacre well over 15,000,000 Frenchmen,[12] and that he also intended to commit genocide against the Alsace region of France due to their German-speaking populace.[13] Besides the guillotine, the French Revolution also resulted in various other deaths, including trampling children with horses, burning people in ovens, "Republican Marriages" (which involved stripping people naked, tying them together to a log in a suggestive fashion, and then putting them into the water to drown. In the event that there wasn't enough people of both sexes, they also resorted to "tying the knot" in a homosexual manner), cutting recently raped girls in half after tying them to a tree, crushing pregnant women under wine pressers, cutting up pregnant women and using bayonets to stab the fetus inside before leaving her to die, "catching" infants thrown from a balcony with their bayonets, and using shotguns to ensure people bled out to death.[13]

The aforementioned actions during the French Revolution, especially the Reign of Terror in 1793, would also inspire Karl Marx with the Communist manifesto, specifically telling Frederick Engels in correspondences to each other: “There is only one way of shortening, simplifying, and concentrating the bloodthirsty death-throes of the old society and the bloody birth pangs of the new—revolutionary terror. . . . [...] Once we are at the helm, we shall be obliged to reenact the year 1793. [...] We are pitiless and we ask no pity from you. When our time comes, we shall not conceal terrorism with hypocritical phrases. . . The vengeance of the people will break forth with such ferocity that not even the year 1793 enables us to envisage it...”[14]

Koukl summarized by stating:

“  It is true that it's possible that religion can produce evil, and generally when we look closer at the detail it produces evil because the individual people are actually living in a rejection of the tenets of Christianity and a rejection of the God that they are supposed to be following. So it can produce it, but the historical fact is that outright rejection of God and institutionalizing of atheism actually does produce evil on incredible levels. We're talking about tens of millions of people as a result of the rejection of God.[1]  ” 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was asked to account for the great tragedies that occurred under the brutal communist regime he and fellow citizens suffered under.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn offered the following explanation:

“  Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.'
Since then I have spend well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' [15]

[PancherBitCoin]

Religion is nothing but a disciplinary way, it shows the way how you behave and how you maintain your Life. If you follow the instructions of any religion then you can lead a peaceful life. Discipline can bring your good health. So regular life is the way of making good health.
So there is a relationship between religion and good health.

If taken in moderation.  Too much of it, and you become paranoid, schizophrenic, serial or mass murderer.

Regardless, it is a very dangerous poison IMHO.  Just like alcohol or drugs, religious ideology can fuck up your thinking.

I agree. Too much religion has a negative impact on the mental, and over time and on the person's physical health.

For a person with an upset mentality, any fad or even faith can be fatal.
Only a sane person is able to think rationally and without harm to his
body and life. I believe that there is no place for fools in religion.

[BADecker]

Religion is nothing but a disciplinary way, it shows the way how you behave and how you maintain your Life. If you follow the instructions of any religion then you can lead a peaceful life. Discipline can bring your good health. So regular life is the way of making good health.
So there is a relationship between religion and good health.

If taken in moderation.  Too much of it, and you become paranoid, schizophrenic, serial or mass murderer.

Regardless, it is a very dangerous poison IMHO.  Just like alcohol or drugs, religious ideology can fuck up your thinking.

I agree. Too much religion has a negative impact on the mental, and over time and on the person's physical health.

For a person with an upset mentality, any fad or even faith can be fatal.
Only a sane person is able to think rationally and without harm to his
body and life. I believe that there is no place for fools in religion.

Everybody has faith just to live. All people have a form of faith that lets them have hope that the next moment will be at least as good as the last one. So, faith isn't a fatal thing in people like those you mention. Rather, in them it is a "fetal" thing. Hopefully they will grow into people sometime before they die.

[Mometaskers]

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

Religion is not the only hobby in town.  

There are plenty of hobbies that will provide ways to socialize with other people.

Yup, but in many places religion makes up most of the socializing events, for example festivals and holidays. ...

In Canada, out of 23 holidays, 4 are religious.

http://www.statutoryholidays.com/2017.php

Almost all festivals in Canada are secular:

https://www.everfest.com/canada

I'm not sure where you live where most festivals and holidays are religious?

Anyway, the point is life is wonderful, you don't need some child molester to tell you that you need to follow a Bronze Age (in some cases a Stone Age) moral code of some goat herders who wrote the Bible.  There are many other options to have a meaningful, social life besides your church activities.

Freakin Philippines, where everything have a tinge of religion on it. Thank goodness though this is not Pakistan or some other country where they heavily discriminate on religious minorities and secularists. Just saw a news about a student there that got murdered for "alleged blasphemy". Now that was definitely bad for his health - for his life...

[CoinCube]

Are you fucking kidding me?  Are you going to bring the Mass Murder card?  I ask you how many people had to die to convert nations on ALL continents to Christianity.  In North America, Christians slaughtered the natives, almost wipe them out completely.  What did the Spaniards do in South and Central America?  Drink wine and dance? What did your buddy Pope, Mussolini and Hitler do?  Go to church on Sunday, that is it?

Mass Murder?  Please stop this shit.  You have never been to been to Baptist Christian churches.  Checkout Westboro...More guys like them and you would have a mayhem in the US.
Mass murder?  These guys just cannot wait....

Your Bible has many examples of mass murder and genocides.

There is no doubt that the Europeans especially the Spanish did some horrible things in the new world. The worst of that evil came from a desire for conquest, gold, though some came from religion.

Religion can certainly produce evil.

It is true that it's possible that religion can produce evil, and generally when we look closer at the detail it produces evil because the individual people are actually living in a rejection of the tenets of Christianity and a rejection of the God that they are supposed to be following. So it can produce it, but the historical fact is that outright rejection of God and institutionalizing of atheism actually does produce evil on incredible levels. We're talking about tens of millions of people as a result of the rejection of God.[1]

Despite these evils for historical accuracy it was diseases especially smallpox not violence that killed 90% of Native Americans in the new world. Though this fact should not detract from the horrible things that were done to the Native Americans who survived the diseases.

Also Hitler was not Christian. He said many thing during his rule to further his plans and limit opposition but his long term plan was to destroy German Christianity.

See:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1566146.msg16015607#msg16015607

I looked up the Westboro group you mentioned and I agree as you said more guys like them and you would have a mayhem in the US. Evil can be done in the name of religion. Humans have free will and often choose poorly either out of ignorance or vice.

[BADecker]

Are you fucking kidding me?  Are you going to bring the Mass Murder card?  I ask you how many people had to die to convert nations on ALL continents to Christianity.  In North America, Christians slaughtered the natives, almost wipe them out completely.  What did the Spaniards do in South and Central America?  Drink wine and dance? What did your buddy Pope, Mussolini and Hitler do?  Go to church on Sunday, that is it?

Mass Murder?  Please stop this shit.  You have never been to been to Baptist Christian churches.  Checkout Westboro...More guys like them and you would have a mayhem in the US.
Mass murder?  These guys just cannot wait....

Your Bible has many examples of mass murder and genocides.

My dad used to tell me that the symptoms of tiredness and laziness were very similar.

The point? If someone says, "I'm a Chriatian," it's very difficult to tell if he is one, simply by listening to his words, if you haven't seen him in action.

Jesus said, "By their fruits you will know them."

A person isn't a Christian if he doesn't follow the ideals and directives of the New Testament. He can shout from the rooftops day and night that he is a Christian. But if he doesn't follow the directives of the N.T., he really isn't one.

[BADecker]

Are you fucking kidding me?  Are you going to bring the Mass Murder card?  I ask you how many people had to die to convert nations on ALL continents to Christianity.  In North America, Christians slaughtered the natives, almost wipe them out completely.  What did the Spaniards do in South and Central America?  Drink wine and dance? What did your buddy Pope, Mussolini and Hitler do?  Go to church on Sunday, that is it?

Mass Murder?  Please stop this shit.  You have never been to been to Baptist Christian churches.  Checkout Westboro...More guys like them and you would have a mayhem in the US.
Mass murder?  These guys just cannot wait....

Your Bible has many examples of mass murder and genocides.

My dad used to tell me that the symptoms of tiredness and laziness were very similar.

The point? If someone says, "I'm a Chriatian," it's very difficult to tell if he is one, simply by listening to his words, if you haven't seen him in action.

Jesus said, "By their fruits you will know them."

A person isn't a Christian if he doesn't follow the ideals and directives of the New Testament. He can shout from the rooftops day and night that he is a Christian. But if he doesn't follow the directives of the N.T., he really isn't one.

By your definition, there are no Christians then....or they are all locked up.

I hope nobody is following the New Testament:

Matthew 5:29 - plucking out eyes
Matthew 5:30 - cutting off hands
Matthew 10:34 - waging wars by a sword
Corinthians 14:34-35 - women should be quiet and obey
Mark 10:11-12 - only marry once otherwise you commit adultery and you should be killed
Luke 19:26-2 - genocide
Romans 1:20-32 - killing sinners
Revelation 2:5 - more killing
Revelation 2:23 - killing children
Psalm 137:9 - killing babies

As usual, taking it all out of context.