Topic: Health and Religion - page 84. (Read 210900 times)

I agree. Too much religion has a negative impact on the mental, and over time and on the person's physical health.

Concerning atheism and mass murder, Christian apologist Gregory Koukl wrote that "the assertion is that religion has caused most of the killing and bloodshed in the world. There are people who make accusations and assertions that are empirically false. This is one of them."[1] Koukl details the number of people killed in various events involving theism and compares them to the much higher tens of millions of people killed under atheistic communist regimes, in which militant atheism served as the official doctrine of the state.[1]

Communist regimes killed 60 million in the 20th century through genocide, according to Le Monde, more than 100 million people[2] according to The Black Book of Communism (Courtois, Stéphane, et al., 1997).[3] and according to Cleon Skousen[4] in his best-selling book The Naked Communist.[5]

It is estimated that in the past 100 years, governments under the banner of atheistic communism have caused the death of somewhere between 40,472,000 and 259,432,000 human lives.[6] Dr. R. J. Rummel, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Hawaii, is the scholar who first coined the term democide (death by government). Dr. R. J. Rummel's mid estimate regarding the loss of life due to communism is that communism caused the death of approximately 110,286,000 people between 1917 and 1987.[7]

The Reign of Terror of the French Revolution established a state which was anti-Roman Catholicism/Christian in nature [8] (anti-clerical deism and anti-religious atheism during the Enlightenment played a significant role in the French Revolution[9][10]), with the official ideology being the Cult of Reason; during this time thousands of believers were suppressed and executed by the guillotine.[11] Although Communism is one of the most well-known cases of atheism's ties to mass murder, the French Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror, inspired by the works of Diderot, Voltaire, Sade, and Rousseau, managed to commit similar persecutions and exterminations of religious people and promote secularism and militant atheism. Official numbers indicate that 300,000 Frenchmen died during Robespierre's Reign of Terror, 297,000 of which were of middle-class or low-class.[12] Of the amount murdered via the guillotine, only 8% had been of the aristocratic class, with over 30% being from the peasant class.[13]

One of the most well known cases of mass murder during the French Revolution was the genocide at Vendée, which has yet to be officially recognized as genocide. Some estimates indicated that Robespierre and the Jacobins planned to massacre well over 15,000,000 Frenchmen,[12] and that he also intended to commit genocide against the Alsace region of France due to their German-speaking populace.[13] Besides the guillotine, the French Revolution also resulted in various other deaths, including trampling children with horses, burning people in ovens, "Republican Marriages" (which involved stripping people naked, tying them together to a log in a suggestive fashion, and then putting them into the water to drown. In the event that there wasn't enough people of both sexes, they also resorted to "tying the knot" in a homosexual manner), cutting recently raped girls in half after tying them to a tree, crushing pregnant women under wine pressers, cutting up pregnant women and using bayonets to stab the fetus inside before leaving her to die, "catching" infants thrown from a balcony with their bayonets, and using shotguns to ensure people bled out to death.[13]

The aforementioned actions during the French Revolution, especially the Reign of Terror in 1793, would also inspire Karl Marx with the Communist manifesto, specifically telling Frederick Engels in correspondences to each other: “There is only one way of shortening, simplifying, and concentrating the bloodthirsty death-throes of the old society and the bloody birth pangs of the new—revolutionary terror. . . . [...] Once we are at the helm, we shall be obliged to reenact the year 1793. [...] We are pitiless and we ask no pity from you. When our time comes, we shall not conceal terrorism with hypocritical phrases. . . The vengeance of the people will break forth with such ferocity that not even the year 1793 enables us to envisage it...”[14]

Koukl summarized by stating:

“  It is true that it's possible that religion can produce evil, and generally when we look closer at the detail it produces evil because the individual people are actually living in a rejection of the tenets of Christianity and a rejection of the God that they are supposed to be following. So it can produce it, but the historical fact is that outright rejection of God and institutionalizing of atheism actually does produce evil on incredible levels. We're talking about tens of millions of people as a result of the rejection of God.[1]  ” 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Nobel Prize winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was asked to account for the great tragedies that occurred under the brutal communist regime he and fellow citizens suffered under.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn offered the following explanation:

“  Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.'
Since then I have spend well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' [15]

If taken in moderation.  Too much of it, and you become paranoid, schizophrenic, serial or mass murderer.

Regardless, it is a very dangerous poison IMHO.  Just like alcohol or drugs, religious ideology can fuck up your thinking.

I do not believe that religion can help a sick person get healed. Maybe this is the effect of auto-suggestion, in which a person heals himself. Or maybe this god helps a person to be healed. But not religion and religious figures

Religion is not the only hobby in town. 

There are plenty of hobbies that will provide ways to socialize with other people.

When you look at the definition of religion (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/religion?s=t), you see that everybody has, at least, a personal religion. People who are less healthy simply have a more flawed personal religion.

Same said regarding war. Islam has conquered much because Islam is a strong religion. America is conquering Islam because Christianity is stronger.

Note that it is not the Christians who are conquering Islam over in the Middle East. Whatever the religion of the American soldiers is, they are conquering Islam for the Christians in America and the world, at God's direction.

OBJECTIVE: Few studies have investigated the association between religion and suicide either in terms of Durkheim’s social integration hypothesis or the hypothesis of the regulative benefits of religion. The relationship between religion and suicide attempts has received even less attention.

METHOD: Depressed inpatients (N=371) who reported belonging to one specific religion or described themselves as having no religious affiliation were compared in terms of their demographic and clinical characteristics.

RESULTS: Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members. Furthermore, subjects with no religious affiliation perceived fewer reasons for living, particularly fewer moral objections to suicide. In terms of clinical characteristics, religiously unaffiliated subjects had more lifetime impulsivity, aggression, and past substance use disorder. No differences in the level of subjective and objective depression, hopelessness, or stressful life events were found.

CONCLUSIONS: Religious affiliation is associated with less suicidal behavior in depressed inpatients. After other factors were controlled, it was found that greater moral objections to suicide and lower aggression level in religiously affiliated subjects may function as protective factors against suicide attempts. Further study about the influence of religious affiliation on aggressive behavior and how moral objections can reduce the probability of acting on suicidal thoughts may offer new therapeutic strategies in suicide prevention.

However when a subsequent Gallup poll asked about atheism, it discovered that 31% of Japanese people were also willing to check the ‘convinced atheist’ box. If the phrase ‘religiously unaffiliated’ was used instead of ‘atheist’, the yes-result was a jaw-dropping 57%.

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

With regards to health maybe the religious report greater FEELING  of well-being because they don't feel stress that much. A poor religious have an afterlife he can look forward to, a poor atheist would only see problems. This is also probably the reason why poorer countries tend to be religious, it's just more comforting.

As for actual health benefits, religious people may have a head-start because of their social circle. The deeply religious go to services regularly where they meet and chat with other community members and probably make a few new friends if it's in a large urban area. Coming out as atheist in a religious territory could cut your social ties though. Besides, even without that experience, atheists don't tend to meet regularly in events focused on their atheism. I guess if you're an atheist you just have to find an alternative. Stuff like ComiCon perhaps?

A person needs to believe in something to be reassured that everything will be ok. By praying your brain reassures itself, finds strength to go further, it's like spiritual selfmotivation. I think the same happens when you take a placebo - you convince yourself that the pill will fight the disease. And if we are talking about mental health then religion sometimes may become a placebo instead of a pill.

This, then, is part of your religion, right?   

In most cases, faith and self-hypnosis help to heal. Religion as a doctor can only advise something, but the main process of healing is in the person himself.

I do not believe that religion can help a sick person get healed. Maybe this is the effect of auto-suggestion, in which a person heals himself. Or maybe this god helps a person to be healed. But not religion and religious figures

Slavery exists throughout the universe without Christianity and without anything we do or say. How does slavery exist? Can you literally, using your own two legs, jump to the moon? If you can, you are probably the only one. If you are not a slave to gravity, then you are a slave to something else, even if it is needing your own brain to stabilize a thinking mind within yourself.

So, true freedom amounts to being able to work harmoniously withing the universe, inside the bonds of your slavery, to allow yourself the most freedom and comfort as possible.

This is what Christianity does for you. Christianity asks you to love all people, to show this love, and it uses the laws of the Old Testament as the guide that shows you the actions you will do to express your love.

Will obeying the laws of the O.T. in the love of the N.T. be beneficial in your freedom? Absolutely, YES! Why? Because then peace-loving people around you will treat you well, because of the good you show them, because of following the laws and love suggestions of Christianity.

In addition, Christianity shows you how to be saved to eternal life, thereby freeing you from the deep bondage/slavery of death. And since it warns about rejecting God, warns about the lake of fire torment such rejection will bring, it frees you from the coming torment, as well, if you accept the freedom.

Pure Christianity is by far the best freedom around. The only time it is not freedom, is when the people who view it would rather have slavery. And even then it is freedom. Why? Because it allows all people the freedom to select slavery if they want.

Now, if that is poison to anyone, he/she has been warped by his/her own evil passions. Slavery is never freedom, but is almost always poison. Christianity offers freedom, so it is absolutely NOT slavery, or poison.

Many things in this world can't be explained scientifically, but one thing is for sure, there is no need to argue about it because even with those with higher medical knowledge can't even explain it, thus it shows that no matter what happens life must go on.

Did this part of the study take into account the faulty medical which kills way more people faster than they would die if they did NOT seek medical help?