Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Eudaimonist · 05-11-2002, 07:24 AM

<a href="http://www.objectivistcenter.org/navigator/articles/nav+klivingston_faith-reason-good-life.asp" target="_blank">Faith, Reason, and the Good Life</a>

This fascinating article discusses the importance of belief systems to human life, and questions findings that allege that strong religious convictions alone provide superior health and happiness benefits.

Even if you don't read the whole article, make sure to go about 4/5ths of the way down and read the section "Belief is Not a Linear Variable", and make sure to check out the graphs. They measure life-satisfaction and physical health for several catorgies of person: anti-religious, non-religious, slightly religious, moderately religious, and very religious. If you think that only very religious people score well on life-satisfaction and health, you'll be in for a big surprise.

Vorkosigan · 05-11-2002, 08:01 PM

Fuckin' great article! Everyone should read this!

Vorkosigan

Toto · 05-12-2002, 01:03 PM

This is a good article, but I was a little confused from just skimming it. There are some graphs showing that the irreligious are as happy as the religious, with the muddled middle being the most unhappy. But then the author indicates that most studies just ignore the irreligious, which means that the data is probably not available to support any sweaping conclusions.

05-11-2002, 07:24 AM	#1
Eudaimonist Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Sundsvall, Sweden Posts: 3,159	Faith, Reason, and the Good Life <a href="http://www.objectivistcenter.org/navigator/articles/nav+klivingston_faith-reason-good-life.asp" target="_blank">Faith, Reason, and the Good Life</a> This fascinating article discusses the importance of belief systems to human life, and questions findings that allege that strong religious convictions alone provide superior health and happiness benefits. Even if you don't read the whole article, make sure to go about 4/5ths of the way down and read the section "Belief is Not a Linear Variable", and make sure to check out the graphs. They measure life-satisfaction and physical health for several catorgies of person: anti-religious, non-religious, slightly religious, moderately religious, and very religious. If you think that only very religious people score well on life-satisfaction and health, you'll be in for a big surprise.

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05-11-2002, 08:01 PM	#2
Vorkosigan Contributor Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Barrayar Posts: 11,866	Fuckin' great article! Everyone should read this! Vorkosigan

05-12-2002, 01:03 PM	#3
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	This is a good article, but I was a little confused from just skimming it. There are some graphs showing that the irreligious are as happy as the religious, with the muddled middle being the most unhappy. But then the author indicates that most studies just ignore the irreligious, which means that the data is probably not available to support any sweaping conclusions.

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