Be Careful What You Ask For

Theists are probably basking in the glory of these findings. Multiple scientific studies show that there are multiple health benefits from being associated with a religion, up to and including increasing your lifespan.

Beyond beliefs: does religious faith lead to a happier, healthier life? by David Robson

Here is a taste of this piece in The Guardian:

“Much of this research took the form of longitudinal research, which involves tracking the health of a population over years and even decades. They each found that measures of someone’s religious commitment, such as how often they attended church, were consistently associated with a range of outcomes, including a lower risk of depression, anxiety and suicide and reduced cardiovascular disease and death from cancer.”

As we all know, correlation is not causation, but there is another reason for theists to be cautious here.

The findings are the same, no matter the religion, that is the details of your religion aren’t important. Another way to say it, is the theology you hold precious is not the source of those benefits.

The article started out referring to Pascal’s Wager, the most common response to which is “But which of the thousands of gods should we believe in?” The answer, according to these studies is, “it doesn’t matter, any god will do.” I can’t see any theist jumping for joy over that.

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