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

[A_man_about_a_dog]

It has been proven by thousands of studies that their is a connection between mental well-being and physical health.

Did these studies show that belief in religion, specifically, increases mental well-being ahead of other factors (i.e. the physical capacities of the body, the power of nature, etc)?

Because that is what the Iona report is implying by saying that religious people are "healthier".

[imokyrok]

I didn't connect mental beliefs with physical health.

I connected mental beliefs(ie. religious ones) with mental well-being.

I then connected mental well-being with physical health.

I then came to a conclusion that mental beliefs will likely impact physical health.


It was proven by Haidt that religious people are happier than non-religious people.

It has been proven by thousands of studies that their is a connection between mental well-being and physical health.

The impact of mental belief on physical health was the subject of an interesting study funded by the templeton institute. They hoped to prove that intercessory prayer had a positive effect on recovery from physical illness. They didn't get the results they hoped for! In fact of the various groups involved in the study, the one that knew they were being prayered for had a worse recovery rate. It was thought that they were stressed out by being prayered for.

"Abstract
Background

Intercessory prayer is widely believed to influence recovery from illness, but claims of benefits are not supported by well-controlled clinical trials. Prior studies have not addressed whether prayer itself or knowledge/certainty that prayer is being provided may influence outcome. We evaluated whether (1) receiving intercessory prayer or (2) being certain of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with uncomplicated recovery after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.
Methods

Patients at 6 US hospitals were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: 604 received intercessory prayer after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; 597 did not receive intercessory prayer also after being informed that they may or may not receive prayer; and 601 received intercessory prayer after being informed they would receive prayer. Intercessory prayer was provided for 14 days, starting the night before CABG. The primary outcome was presence of any complication within 30 days of CABG. Secondary outcomes were any major event and mortality.
Results

In the 2 groups uncertain about receiving intercessory prayer, complications occurred in 52% (315/604) of patients who received intercessory prayer versus 51% (304/597) of those who did not (relative risk 1.02, 95% CI 0.92-1.15). Complications occurred in 59% (352/601) of patients certain of receiving intercessory prayer compared with the 52% (315/604) of those uncertain of receiving intercessory prayer (relative risk 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28). Major events and 30-day mortality were similar across the 3 groups.
Conclusions

Intercessory prayer itself had no effect on complication-free recovery from CABG, but certainty of receiving intercessory prayer was associated with a higher incidence of complications."

Elsevier


Needless to say the Templeton Institute didn't exactly take out ads trumpeting their findings.

[tmesis2008]

Religious people are happier than miserable magicless secularists - goes without saying.

Religious people can be secularists as well. I don't believe in magic, but I think the world is amazing enough without it.

[tmesis2008]

Well you dismissed the report without investigation (you made a comment afterwards) but I wasn't referring to this. I was speaking about the deluge of idiotic comments dismissing all scientific studies which substantiate the fact that there are positive benefits to belief.

But you only questioned the comment about the gay marriage survey.

Yeah, I'm not interested in the claim that one belief or another makes you happy. I'm interested as to whether it's true or not. That's the evidence I want to see. Everything else is a charade and a diversion.

Also, I noted that the report in one place goes out of its way to say that even though there isn't evidence something ("faith healing") may well be true. It doesn't sound entirely objective to me.

[drkpower]

Yeah, I'm not interested in the claim that one belief or another makes you happy. I'm interested as to whether it's true or not. That's the evidence I want to see. Everything else is a charade and a diversion.

Its hardly a charade or diversion. Just another part of the picture.
Love is also shown to make people happier and extend their lives. However I have yet to see the scientific explanation of how it occurs.

[tmesis2008]

Well you are assuming that they were either lying or misleading people. Not many people I reckon come away with that impression of the authors of the Gospels, regardless of whether they are Christians are not.

No, I'm not. I'm looking for the most reasonable explanation. I'm sure if we trawled other cultures and beliefs we could find numerous examples of prophecies being fulfilled (often, actually, the prophecies are in "poetic" language and they are "interpreted" as having being fulfilled). Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Those who make the laws can also suspend them.

So, God can make the sun wobble around, and he ensures that only a few thousand people on earth in a certain location see it, and he also ensures that after the event everything (planetary orbits, temp. of the earth, distance of the sun from the earth) is exactly as if the event didn't happen. Yeah, right. I'm really sorry that you believe this stuff, but it is arrant nonsense. There's nothing I can say to convince you that it isn't because you will find a way to justify it, such as the above sentence.

And then God can do all that, and can't perform the relatively simple task of growing a new limb for a faithful amputee (but will heal other sufferers, apparently). Either God has something against amputees or the whole thing is BS. I suspect the more reasonable answer.

What kind of "magic"?

It's all a claim that either a person can suspend the laws of the universe or that God can do it for them. No evidence exists that this happens.

[Mr.De-Regulation]

David is one of the best journalists in Ireland. He is hardly going to lie to you when he says, when an that is suppose to produce love and happiness, makes you feel better.

Trying to paint David Quinn, as some people here, as some religious maniac, who is some how an extremist and a homophobic, just proves that Catholics should stand up against this ridiculous red wave of anti-Catholicism.

[tmesis2008]

Its hardly a charade or diversion. Just another part of the picture.

If religious people are happy does that mean that God exists or even make it more likely?

Love is also shown to make people happier and extend their lives. However I have yet to see the scientific explanation of how it occurs.

What has that got to do with this?

[tmesis2008]

David is one of the best journalists in Ireland. He is hardly going to lie to you when he says, when an that is suppose to produce love and happiness, makes you feel better.

Trying to paint David Quinn, as some people here, as some religious maniac, who is some how an extremist and a homophobic, just proves that Catholics should stand up against this ridiculous red wave of anti-Catholicism.

Jeez, I missed the post where someone claimed that David Quinn was a liar, an extremist and a homophobic. Who did that?

[drkpower]

If religious people are happy does that mean that God exists or even make it more likely?

Of course not.
Its hardly a charade or diversion though. Just another part of the picture. I think I said that, no?

What has that got to do with this?

Something does not need be provable or even true in order to give you happiness. People, including atheists, live their lives on the basis of unprovable feelings.

That is the key point of this study. Why not leave it at that? Why exercise yourself about it? Leave those who wish to believe to it and the happiness it gives them.