Author Topic: Live Longer with Religion (Read 283 times)

Trauma-san · « **on:** January 30, 2003, 01:17:39 AM »

http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=WM&Date=20030128&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=301280005&Ref=AR&Profile=1025&SectionCat=FRONTPAGE

Living longer with religion
Does faith really help people live longer? Some say it's more helpful than you think

By Amanda Greene
Staff Writer
amanda.greene@wilmingtonstar.com

For six years, Jackie Peoples fought cancer, not with large amounts of pain medication, but with prayer. As a Nichiren Daishonin Buddhist, she said daily morning and evening prayers to feed her body with healthy thoughts. Her belief says that all people can reach enlightenment or potential for complete happiness through practice, faith and study. On Jan. 18, Ms. Peoples turned 50, a personal goal.

On Jan. 19, she died.

Her friends are convinced Buddhism extended her life.

“She lived on faith and never complained. All that time she was sick, not many people knew how sick she was because she refreshed herself daily with prayer,” said Catherine Moore, her partner. “She lived three years longer than the doctors thought she would. She showed if you do the right things for your spirit, it revitalizes your life.”

Recent studies on the connection between religious practice and life span suggest that Ms. Peoples’ practice may have helped her live longer. That includes a 2000 report from The Center for the Study of Religion and Health at Duke University.

In their study, Duke researchers found that elderly people with no disability and little or no private religious activity were 63 percent more likely to die during the six years of the study than people who went to church regularly. Even when the scientists controlled for factors such as independent social support and health regiments, people without religious activities still were 47 percent more likely to die in that period than churchgoers.

It is a fact that humans are living longer. The current life expectancy in the United States, according to Central Intelligence Agency estimates, is 77.4 years old. That’s approximately 74.5 years for men and 80.2 years for women. In 1950, the average life expectancy was 68.2.

Add religion to the mix, and some studies say you may live even longer. During his research, Dr. Harold Koenig, director of The Center for the Study of Religion and Health, found 11 different studies that concluded that clergy live longer than the general population, “whether they’re Protestant preachers or Buddhist monks, they even live longer than physicians,” he said.

Dr. Koenig said some studies suggest denominations such as Catholics, Trappist monks, Buddhists, Muslims, Seventh Day Adventists and Mormons, who have strict codes about how they live, survive longer.

That research isn’t surprising to Steve Urban, a lifelong Catholic who comes to daily mass at St. Mark Catholic Church. He said saying the rosary prayers over and over gives him peace. Last year, he had quadruple bypass heart surgery and says his religion helped him through the procedure.

“The beat, the sound of (the rosary) is nice, and it’s a time of being together with people communally and individually to pray for what we believe,” he said.

Religion gives people a feeling of connection to fellow humans and to the universe, which helps them live longer, Dr. Koenig said.

“When you go to church regularly, that enhances your social support,” he said. “So the faith community plays a real role in maintaining older adults and monitoring them to be sure they get good medical care.”

He added that the optimism produced out of praying with others can help people through difficult and stressful times in their lives.

Religious practice doesn’t just focus on reducing stress and loneliness. It can be a type of preventative medicine, discouraging unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and excessive drinking, Dr. Koenig said.

“Clean living is one of the best things you can get in a Christian life,” said Laura Triece, a volunteer with Christian Coalition North Carolina and an active member playing piano or synthesizer each Sunday in the music ministry at Myrtle Grove Presbyterian Church. “The natural law coming from God defines the things that we can and can’t do with our bodies. And Christ’s example is the best example of how to live a life that’s full and abundant.”

Dr. Koenig added that some religious people live longer simply because their practices are more strict. Mormons such as Elder Eric Maycock, a Mormon missionary, follow a strict guide to living called The Word of Wisdom. It outlines the dos’ and don’ts of Mormon life such as no consumption of coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco or other harmful drugs.

Margaret Herring believes prayer is the most “non-toxic thing you can do for your body.” The 67-year-old Unitarian said daily talks with her creator have helped her live better.

“I don’t get sick much, and I go to church about twice a month and pray several times a day,” she said. Ms. Herring also believes she gets more results from prayers when she ends them with “‘Thy will be done,’ and I don’t attach an outcome to it.”

Of course, not everyone agrees that being religious is the way to live longer.

“There’s a great blues line that says everybody wants to go to heaven by nobody wants to die,” said Jay Niver, an assisted suicide advocate and a believer in God. “So much of religion and Christianity is based on life after death, and if there’s something so great waiting on the other side, you’d think people would want to die. Yet everybody clings to life.”

Sometimes a brush with death can teach the importance of trusting prayer and religious devotion to carry you through life, says Dr. Elizabeth Coleman, a Wilmington psychiatrist and patient advocate with Advocacy Associates.

She decided to leave her life to God’s will after she almost died in 1995 from meningitis after a brain surgery to remove a benign tumor. Since, Dr. Coleman has had three brain surgeries and one open heart surgery and credits her faithful practice of Catholicism for improving and lengthening her life.

“Religion makes me ready to handle the rest of the world,” Dr. Coleman said. “I have to study it on a day to day basis because it makes me feel better each day.”

Though Dr. Coleman said she could not, in good conscience, prescribe prayer and church attendance to her patients, she added that so many studies citing the positive effects of religious practice on mortality must be on the right track.

“This must be divine intervention,” she said. “My beliefs have taught me that today is important, and tomorrow’s not guaranteed, but I still plan for it.”

Amanda Greene: 343-2365 or amanda.greene@wilmingtonstar.com

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Utah is 75% Mormon, and the average life expectancy in Utah is 11 years higher than the rest of the united states. Peace~

ontherise · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2003, 08:44:36 AM »

you had to start a debate huh :)m mmm ok

Ant · « **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2003, 01:09:28 PM »

Weakness is a prerequisite when entering christianity. It is frequently a prerequisite for Islam as well. Notice the distraught Infinite that found Allah. Notice all the people in the above article. They were sick and weak, then they found God.

It's an odd contradiction that the religious are the people most scared of death. Heaven is a huge reward, why fear death? Do you lack faith?

Anyways, faith brings you peace only because it distorts reality. Less stress probably means longer life. A man acting on faith is only right by coincidence or luck. If luck doesn't work in your favor faith is detrimental. In certain situations faith shields a person from reality and thus improves their quality of life.

Convictions are more dangerous than lies. A man with convictions is imprisoned. Faith gives you such convictions.

As a final note. I know a man who loves life more than anyone I've ever known. Every day he is beaming with happiness. He is the most well respected professor at my whole college, and to top it off he doesn't even have a degree. He isn't christian, muslim, jewish, buddhist, or hindi. He recently told me he has had cancer for the last 2 years. He doesn't need God, or false hopes to sustain him. He lives off his own ability. Faith steals ability because faith tell you that you don't need ability. Every man is equal in the eyes of God, is what faith tells you. This conviction is beyond detrimental. Without knowledge and without ability you NEED faith. With a precise combination of both you can accomplish what men of faith believe is only accomplishable through God.

bLaDe · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2003, 02:02:35 PM »

I agree, infact, I always beleived so. Meditating, and prayer, aliviates stress, and mental pressure, subconciously, and conciously, and its a proven fact, that stress, worries, confusion etc can shorten your life span. So it all fits really. Ofcourse, you have to embrace the religion correctly, like many fundamentalests, religious extreamests do not. You dont even need religion, if a person meditates daily, says little prayers, forgives everyone, and stuff like that, its the same effect I believe.
And Ant, do you totatly beleive God doesnt exist? Or have even a 1% belief that he does? I beleive everyone should keep an open mind about God, and other things, always consider that one possibility he exists, cuz I always beleive that 1% that he doesnt, amongst other things. I dont beleive one can know everything, peace

-{bLaDe}

Ant · « **Reply #4 on:** February 01, 2003, 02:23:14 AM »

Here are my beliefs:

1) God may exist. The creation of the universe would seem to require a God. But then again 100 yrs ago we thought the earth was flat, maybe we just have some missing information.

2) If God exists he doesn't interact in our lives at all.

3) The afterlife doesn't exist. Everything you want to accomplish do it in this life.

4) Religions are all falsified. Religious ideals are not always beneficial, even the one's that seem to be for the good of society. Some religious ideals may be good for society, it is not within our ability to determine which are such.

5) Religions aid and destroy the weak. They aid the weak by giving them a false sense of hope. They destroy the weak by telling them its ok to be weak. A religious person with weaknesses can dwell on his weaknesses knowing God will repay him in the afterlife. By weak I just mean a person with faults. A person without hope in an afterlife is forced to either achieve in his life or perish into nothingness never having enjoyed his existence. Born weak or strong they MUST strive to gain ability. Relgions destroy becuz they steal a person's spirit during a moment of weakness. A person has a difficult time and they convert. Without the religion they would have been forced to make it through the hard times on their own. They would have to stare reality in the eye and if they are victorious they will be forever improved. Religion lets the weak hide from reality. They think they are better off but they are worse.

That's not to say their aren't successful religious poeple. Religion has helped a number of people. It has harmed a number of people as well. Had it done more good than bad? I don't know. But religion is responsibility for a number of wrong-doings and it should be held accountable for such. Afterall, wasn't the old testament where the phrase and eye for an eye came from?

Trauma-san · « **Reply #5 on:** February 01, 2003, 02:31:42 AM »

Well, I'm just glad I belong to a fake faith that lives 11 years longer than everybody else. At least I'll get SOME benefit out of it.

Entreri117 · « **Reply #6 on:** February 01, 2003, 09:53:41 PM »

Coincidences...

PS: The homicide/suicide rate in Utah wasn't that high last time I checked...

Trauma-san · « **Reply #7 on:** February 01, 2003, 10:20:43 PM »

LOL, it's not a coincidence that on average, they live 11 years longer. It's just that many religions support healthy lifestyles, and promote long life through that. I fully expect somebody non-religious to come around at any time and say that it's not necessary a good thing to live longer.