Huw's Share: Beyond beliefs: does religious faith lead to a happier, healthier life?

Interesting article. I wish they had studied other secular groups who met regularly to control for the effects of community and social connection on health because I think that is a huge factor. This reminded me of the book Bowling Alone which talks about how it used to be far more common for people to have activities outside of work but now it is far less so. Of course religion is one of the few things that is allowed to supercede work. You can take a holy day off but you can't take a day off to connect with friends (or at least there are no official holidays to do so). Of course there is also the health benefits of believing the creator of everything has your back which if I remember correctly from when I was a believer does wonders for your stress levels. But for some that isn't an option. Asking an agnostic or atheist to believe in god is like asking a member of one religion to switch to another. If you don't believe, you can't just decide to do so. Too bad. Looks nice. :)