Is There A Connection Between Mortality And Religion - Research Paper Example

Order 528360 Topic: Is there a connection between mortality and religion Outline Religious practices create a healthy mind, normally! A healthy mind creates a healthy body, normally! The combination of the healthy body and healthy mind is conducive to longer life, normally! I say ‘normally’ because there are many other ancillary factors that contribute to mortality either positively or negatively. Religion is a comfort area for mortality. Healthy mind is the concern for religious individuals and the healthy body is the natural outcome.

Researchers give a 20 percent bonus lifespan for religious individuals but other possible causes also need to be looked into. But does religiosity translate into biological mechanisms which affect the rates of survival?—this is the moot question that remains to be answered by the researchers. ------------------------ The popular belief is the healthy body goes with the healthy mind. Only a moral/religious/spiritual individual can have a healthy mind. Religious practices are meant to combat the negative thoughts.

In spiritual texts of all religions, one comes across parables related to long-life and such people adopted healthy practices in their day to day living. Physical wellbeing and religious belief is like the scale of justice. Both arms of the scale are equally important to get at the equilibrium. In one’s life, they must run like a train that speeds on two parallel tracks. Ralph W. Hood, Jr., et.al (2009, p.181) writes, “Some impressive research has examined the relationship between mortality and religious involvement…..The results showed that frequent attendees lived longer than infrequent attendees.

Apparently, the former were more likely to cease smoking, engage in exercise, remain married, and maintain their social connections.” To put it in the terms of a layman, a well-disciplined individual will live longer than a man with negative tendencies and habits. Brian Thomas in article “New Study Makes Connection Between Religion and Lower Mortality,” concludes that women performing religious service with regularity lived 20 percent longer than those who did not, as per the recent study.

Some of the specific revelations in support of connection between mortality and religion are: Exodus 20:12: “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” To explain this further, one who adheres to this commandment lives the disciplined life. Principle of God-fearing is a positive approach to life-situations and such positivity contributes to peace which is conducive to long span of life. Proverbs 17:22: “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

” Physiologists and yoga therapists have demonstrated the truth that laughing causes healing endorphins to be released within the body. A truly religious person tries to be happy/is always happy, as his surrender to the All-protective Force (God) is total. This is the strength of religion to challenge mortality. To attend religious services regularly means what? The health habits, social functioning, psychological state and other positive traits are normally to be found in such individuals. The subject matter is too vast to be covered by specifics to arrive at unassailable conclusions.

Such attendance relates to many other factors conducive to good health. Some of them are interaction with friends and relatives, sermons of preachers that emit positive vibrations, the renewal of the impact with the visual interaction of the figure of Christ in the church, availing the benefits of the social support measures initiated by the Church and participation in the philanthropic activities, are all extension of the religious practices. These provide peace of mind to an individual. When the mind is at peaces it impacts the body positively.

But the connection between mortality and religion is not exclusive, it is inclusive and it goes with other factors like the level of income and the degree of urbanization. In ancient history one comes across references for the positive relation between religion and mortality and it existed in the period around 1880. But the practice of religious factors is also not a constant factor and they change due to various external influences and pressures like natural calamities, wars etc The same religion exerts different types of influences at different times on the mind of the individual and consequently on his body.

The negative influence on health of Catholicism has been recorded after 1880. The mortality aspect also has a bearing on the type of congregation one attends. There are Churches that lay emphasis on the other worldly perspective of life. Some Churches give prominence to the secular aspects, the current needs, improvement in the standard of living along with the improvement in the standard of life (spiritual perspective) and this will have significant affect on the participating community. The philanthropic initiatives of such Churches in the area of education, housing for the needy, creation and maintenance of health infrastructure, and various form of public charity have bearing on the mind and body of the beneficiary and therefore, must contribute to one’s mortality on the plus side.

The wise saying goes, when the thoughts are changed, the mind is changed; when the mind is changed, the man is changed; when the man is changed, the society is changed. The shifting psychological profile of an individual (and religion is one of the important factor for such a shift) impacts the physical equipment of an individual positively. This low risk behavior which is the result of increase in the influence of the positive tendencies has some bearing on the mortality. High risk behavior has the opposite effect on mortality.

Works Cited Hood, Ralph W. Jr., Hill, Peter C, Spilka, Bernard; The Psychology of Religion: An Empirical Approach; Guilford Press, 2009 Thomas, Brian; Article: New Study Makes Connection Between Religion and Lower Mortality, 2 Dec 2008. Retrieved on April 27, 2011