tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1645439856635422478.post3198178347215788505..comments2024-03-08T07:31:03.679-08:00Comments on Templestream: Gallup Polls Highlight Happiness, Health and Logic in SpiritualityRick Wardenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09689451026838986088noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1645439856635422478.post-6589729683916605882011-06-02T03:48:32.323-07:002011-06-02T03:48:32.323-07:00Hello Tatarize.
Gallup Polls shows "Very Re...Hello Tatarize. <br /><br />Gallup Polls shows "Very Religious Americans Report Less Depression, Worry" and "Very Religious Americans Report Less Depression, Worry" as outlined in my article: "Gallup Polls Highlight Happiness, Health and Logic in Spirituality"<br /><br />When a person repents and has his or her sins forgiven, the guilt of sin is removed and the effects of this on a person's life are dramatic. When a person abides in God's presence, in God's peace, love and joy, the health benefits are dramatic. You might want to try it sometime.<br /><br />The world generally offers quick and easy kinds of happiness that can may make you feel good for a little while, but are actually detrimental to the soul and body in the long run: materialism and money, the idolization of pleasure and sexual promiscuity, power and the manipulation of others, not to mention the various substances people lean on to try and get through a normal day.<br /><br />Christianity doesn't promise a bed of roses. Actually, it promises persecution. But despite circumstantial trials, believers have a deep and abiding joy in knowing Christ.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />RickRick Wardenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09689451026838986088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1645439856635422478.post-57966407907069759992011-06-01T18:40:45.706-07:002011-06-01T18:40:45.706-07:00You can cite the Bible if you want, but the resear...You can cite the Bible if you want, but the research is there. You can become an atheist and be happier. Therefore your original note is completely wrong.Tatarizehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06655536699564744308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1645439856635422478.post-54228825157276364632010-12-25T10:21:39.180-08:002010-12-25T10:21:39.180-08:00"It's that moderate group in the center t..."It's that moderate group in the center that does poorly." <br /><br />Uncommitted compromisers and apathetic people tend to make others depressed also, if not sick:<br /><br />"So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." - JesusRick Wardenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09689451026838986088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1645439856635422478.post-26546525071774399472010-12-23T18:43:31.192-08:002010-12-23T18:43:31.192-08:00Fundamentalists do best on such measures, followed...Fundamentalists do best on such measures, followed by atheists. If you look at the poll here and other places it has been done you find that at the extremes you get the best results. The non-religious are not to be confused as wholesale equivalency with atheism.<br /><br />The Gallop poll here is no different the group that does the worst is the moderately religious. It fits a curve with the moderates at the center doing the worst.<br /><br />My claim was never that the highly religious didn't do the best. By most statistics on such things they do. The more fundamentalist they are the better they do. But also the more atheistic, the better they do. It's that moderate group in the center that does poorly.Tatarizehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06655536699564744308noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1645439856635422478.post-51282031278697512792010-12-23T12:09:34.126-08:002010-12-23T12:09:34.126-08:00Tatarize,
You made emphatic comments but didn'...Tatarize,<br /><br />You made emphatic comments but didn't back them up with numbers.<br /><br />You wrote “As a group, atheists do better in terms of happiness than the general population.” I'm not sure how you arrived at your theory. In the poll on depression, the non-religious made up 29.7% of the population, moderately religious, 26.6% and very religious 43.7% of a random sample of 554,066 adults from all over the US. With a margin of error of ±0.5 percentage point for each group.<br /><br />The highly religious group is 3.1% happier than the non-religious one (18.7 – 15.6 = 3.1) and the highly religious group is 1.5 times larger than the non-religious group (43.7 / 29.7). The non-religious group is only 1.1 times larger than the moderately religious group, not much of a difference.<br /><br />Gallup Describes their interpretation:<br /><br />“The best explanation for the observed relationship between religion and more positive states of emotional health may be the most straightforward -- that being religious in fact produces a salutary effect on one's mental health.” <br /><br />The second Gallup poll on "well-being" offers that the highly religious have a 4.5% better mental health condition than the non-religious, while the moderately religious and non-religious are tied at 64.2.Rick Wardenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09689451026838986088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1645439856635422478.post-67679181729273614762010-12-23T00:59:40.781-08:002010-12-23T00:59:40.781-08:00The claim that "atheism -> depression ther...The claim that "atheism -> depression therefore is false." is wrong on a few points.<br /><br />While fundamentalism of the Biblical literal variety is the least depressed religious group, the second place goes to atheists. The liberal, weak, and non-practicing Christians are the most depressed group. Those who don't wrestle with their faith, or need to fight to keep themselves believing, are the less depressed of the population.<br /><br />As a group, atheists do better in terms of happiness than the general population. If you look at the Gallop poll, you'll properly see that the data here backs this up (as do many other studies). The middle half-hearted Christians and moderates are the most depressed. The gallop poll doesn't include Biblical Fundamentalists and atheists but the extremes are even more pronounced.Tatarizehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06655536699564744308noreply@blogger.com