Shock, Horror - Iona Institute Finds Religious People are "Happier" & "Healthier"

[Limerick Lad]

The study concluded that religion is rarely a socially destructive force and is beneficial to both the individual & wider society.

Considering how many people have died worldwide as a result of religious conflicts that's a rather strange conclusion.

[LDF]

BreakingNews.ie

Surprise, surprise.... the Iona Institute have released a report which claims that those with more religious views are generally happier,

It's no more or less surprising than the advocates of gay marraige producing a report claiming 67% of Irish people ...support gay marraige.

[Andrew49]

BreakingNews.ie

Surprise, surprise.... the Iona Institute have released a report which claims that those with more religious views are generally happier, in terms of lower depression levels, than people who are not religious. The report also claims that people with strong religious views tend to recover from illness much quicker than non-religious patients.

The study concluded that religion is rarely a socially destructive force and is beneficial to both the individual & wider society.


Frankly, what else would one expect of the Iona Institute other than a report which promotes religion in a highly favourable light? What I want to know is how do they measure whether religious people have better recovery times than non-religious people? Is it a case of them simply asking patients how they 'feel' and then separating those patients who described themselves as 'religious' from the 'non-religious' and coming up with a set of figures?

I certainly don't buy into the notion that people with strong religious views are going to have shorter recovery times than those atheistic or agnostic views. Sounds like a load of old hobble thrown together in a manner which produces the results that the boys up in Iona HQ want to see. I often wonder why the likes of breaking news and rte.ie carry these stories on their main pages.... surely there has to be more important happenings going on in the world this morning than the Iona Institute releasing a highly biased report, no?

The poor poor religious. Things really changed for them when they were forbidden from burning schizophrenics in autos-da-fé. But it seems that they've gotten over it now. Praise The Lord!

[Limerick Lad]

It's no more or less surprising than the advocates of gay marraige producing a report claiming 67% of Irish people ...support gay marraige.

I think Lansdowne Market Research would disagree with you that they are advocates of gay marriage, they are opinion takers not opinion makers.

[Defeated Romanticist]

Nice to see the last acceptable prejudice getting an airing, again.

Sorry fellas.

Even Jonathan Haidt, himself an extreme leftist, has admitted conservatives and the religious are happier.

5000 posts!!!

[White Horse]

Considering how many people have died worldwide as a result of religious conflicts that's a rather strange conclusion.

What conflicts have there been over religious beliefs?

I think you'll find that the main reason for war is land and wealth.

[myksav]

Can you prove the contrary? That non-religious people are happier than religious people?

I'd say they got it right to a greater degree. Most of the people I know who have strong religious convictions are less unhappy than the non-religious people I know, as a general trend.
A lot of them are calmer in life, so are less likely to be effected by depression or the like.

It's not an absolute, it's a relative thing.

[diddleydoo]

It's true!



Shane.

[LDF]

I think Lansdowne Market Research would disagree with you that they are advocates of gay marriage, they are opinion takers not opinion makers.

Okay, who commissioned the report? Was it not an organisation campaigning for same sex marraige? Do you think they had an input into the questions asked?

[InReality]

I'd say almost all research with a "political/social" implicantion is supported by some organsiation with a stake in the matter.

In the US I think it would be very close to all research.



Whats a pity is that the media never mention the backround of organisations when they publish such research.

Esp like the landsdown research , where the bias is at one remove.