On the other hand, religious belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

It can also lower your taxes!

It's almost time for the Rapture!

Immortality. Wow.

I wonder if the Somalis are less likely to die. They are REALLY religious.

Flab: I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

There's a 20% chance of afterlife.

Flab: I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

Came here to assert this.

Flab: I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

FTA: In fact, attend two services a week and you can cut your chances of dying by 20 per cent.

Whatever happened to journalists actually knowing better than to say idiotic crap like this?

20% of religious folks are resurrected?

Snarfangel: Flab: I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

There's a 20% chance of afterlife.

If you belong to a religion that believes in one.

FTFA religious people lead healthier lifestyles, said study leader Dr Eliezer Schnall.

Yes indeed, very healthy lifestyles:


Geins mother, Augusta, a fervent Lutheran, drummed into her boys the innate immorality of the world, the evil of drink and the belief that all women (herself excluded) were prostitutes and instruments of the devil. She reserved time every afternoon to read to them from the Bible, usually selecting graphic verses from the Old Testament dealing with death, murder and divine retribution.^

Snarfangel: Flab: I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

There's a 20% chance of afterlife.

60% of the time, it works every time.

Denial_of_Death: Snarfangel: Flab: I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

There's a 20% chance of afterlife.

60% of the time, it works every time.


But there's only a 50% of that.

/Frank Drebin's boss (can't think of the name ftw)

came here to LAWL

If Sarah Palin was vice-president, she would have become a Pope in 2012.

For a split second there, I thought that was C. Everett Koop giving the article some legitimacy.

Junk article. Junk science.

Oh, I forgot, we don't believe in science.

What is only 20% if a person becomes immortal, so you have a foot or a kidney or something that lasts forever.

Life is a 100% guarantee of death.

BlorfMaster: What is only 20% if a person becomes immortal, so you have a foot or a kidney or something that lasts forever.

Thats a big foot or kidney.

Doesn't living longer take out the fun and glory of being religious?

The guy in the article's accompanying photo is a level ten black robe mage. Those eyebrows are a magic item! +1 against undead!

You would think religious people would want to die quicker because they'd get to meet God faster. Maybe this is God's way of saying he doesn't want anything to do with religious people

So you've got that going for you.

Snarfangel

Flab: I thought we all had a 100% probability of dying.

There's a 20% chance of afterlife.


With a 30% chance of showers as that warm front moves through the area.

FTA: In fact, attend two services a week and you can cut your chances of dying by 20 per cent.

So spending time sitting in one place half asleep is less dangerous than a lot of other things we humans do? What a waste of a research grant.

if it means not being confined to an afterlife full of freaky religious zealots, I'll gladly forfeit that 20%. And while I'm at it, I'd smoke fifteen cigarettes at a time, run with scissors, drive without my seatbelt and add trans fat to every thing I eat.

Wow, what a fact filled, scientifically sound article! How can you NOT believe it?

From the journal abstract (new window) itself:

"Some studies suggest that religiosity may be related to health outcomes. The current investigation, involving 92,395 Women's Health Initiative Observational Study participants, examined the prospective association of religious affiliation, religious service attendance, and strength and comfort from religion with subsequent cardiovascular outcomes and death. Baseline characteristics and responses to religiosity questions were collected at enrollment. Women were followed for an average of 7.7 years and outcomes were judged by physician adjudicators. Cox proportional regression models were run to obtain hazard ratios (HR) of religiosity variables and coronary heart disease (CHD) and death. After controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and prior health variables, self-report of religious affiliation, frequent religious service attendance, and religious strength and comfort were associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality [HR for religious affiliation = 0.84; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75-0.93] [HR for service attendance = 0.80; CI: 0.73-0.87] [HR for strength and comfort = 0.89; CI: 0.82-0.98]. However, these religion-related variables were not associated with reduced risk of CHD morbidity and mortality. In fact, self-report of religiosity was associated with increased risk of this outcome in some models. In conclusion, although self-report measures of religiosity were not associated with reduced risk of CHD morbidity and mortality, these measures were associated with reduced risk of all-cause mortality."

In short, religious belief makes you less likely to die certain kinds of death.

Moreover, the article claims a 10-20% reduction, not simply 20% Further, they note that their article revises downward other studies, which placed it as high as 25%.

/Catholic, but hates shoddy reporting.

Why did they only do the research on women?
Government funded? That obviously means it legit.

If there is a God, why does the Archbishop of Canterbury look so terrifying?

You're 20% MORE likely to kill somebody else.

Something tells me that the men didn't fare so well.

Oh... the article happened to leave out one minor detail:

"The apparent benefits of deriving substantial strength and comfort from religion disappeared when the researchers also controlled for smoking and alcohol consumption..."

Link (new window)

Great - so the study is completely valid as long as post-menopausal women who attend church regularly, drink and smoke as much as other women. That's some fine science there, Lou...

100% is not 20% less than 100%.

Religious or not, you are just less than 100% likely to die.

/The "just less than" is a VERY small percentage less than.
//Hey... we could cure aging in the lifetime of someone who is alive now.

Oh my God. Bevets will be here forever.

If I were religious... I would really want to (die sooner that is).

Lessee... a long life bowing and scraping (and handing over cash) to a being (and/or their earthly representatives) that probably doesn't exist with a possible reward of the same for all eternity; or a slightly shorter life enjoying all that our one life has to offer, enjoying our physical bodies, the world we have and harming no one.

Tough choice there. If there is a god,(s)he should know what choice we'd make.

Marcus Aurelius: It can also lower your taxes!

Ben Franklin would have loved this comment.

Well 0% of people are going to not die, add 20% of 0...sounds right.

EliteAnalyst: Crikey, those are 70s Politburo eyebrows.

"Feyd, no! Thufir's a Harkonnen now..."

FTA: The remarkable findings come from a vast, long-term US government-funded study of the health of 92,000 women.
...
The findings, published in the journal Psychology and Health, were based on interviews with Christians aged 50 to 80.

How about, healthy old ladies are more likely to attend church. (possible?)
Or, the same (unknown) conditions that encourage religiosity also may provide health benefits!

Yes, there is something going on here that the authors don't understand.

I have to admit... a 20% decreased chance of death would definitely get me going to church. I would even be willing to tithe for that.

tortilla burger: You would think religious people would want to die quicker because they'd get to meet God faster. Maybe this is God's way of saying he doesn't want anything to do with religious people

/This.

I don't understand how this even works. Who thinks of this? Going further, who actually agrees to conduct this?

"Guys. GUYS. Let's do a massive study on how going to church may or may not influence the life spans of women!"

"This is a great idea let's do this."

I think people who go to Church, especially twice a week, are less likely to take chances. They live humdrum lives. So that's why they are less apt to die young. It's not that hard to figure out, "scientists".

What is only 20% if a person becomes immortal, so you have a foot or a kidney or something that lasts forever.

In my case it's probably the liver.

/been trying to kill it for years to no avail