Mike Lorrey <mlorrey@datamann.com> wrote:
> Michael Wiik wrote:
> > Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have reported that attending
> > religious services at least once a month more than halved the risk of
> > death due to heart disease, emphysema, suicide and some kinds of
> > cancers.
>
> What I think is occuring is simply a sort of placebo effect: those who
> believe they are going to live on after death are less stressed out
> about dying, and stress is a known major contributor to death rates for
> the mentioned maladies.
So people who believe in no life after death are maximally stressed out?
I agree it's almost certainly a placebo effect, but am unsure about the
lack of stress about dying being the reason. Lots of folks get comfort
just from the fellowship in a church. Perhaps people with lots of
friends live longer than people with few friends. Maybe it's the feeling
that if some sort of personal tragedy (health, financial, etc) occurs,
you will have support.
-Mike
-- ====================================================================== Michael Wiik Principal Messagenet Communications Research Washington DC Area Internet and WWW Consultants http://messagenet.com mwiik@messagenet.com ======================================================================
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