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Science shows religion makes people happier
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Scientific research shows that people who practise their religion are more likely to have a happier, longer life and to cope better with life's difficulties, a leading Irish psychiatrist has told a Dublin youth conference.
"The overwhelming weight of evidence so far indicates that being actively involved in religious events is psychologically beneficial for individuals," said UCD's Professor Patricia Casey.
Religious practice also carries a range of benefits for society, "relating to everything from stability of marriage to crime and to suicide." If it has strong personal benefits, "then it obviously has benefits for society as well," remarked the psychiatriast.
This positive impact of religion on society needs to be stressed today in particular, she believed. "It's an important message at a time when religion is often criticised as being a socially divisive force and mainly repressive," she said.
Professor Casey is the author of "The Psycho-social Benefits of Religious Practice", a review of the international research on the topic. She was speaking to 250 participants at the recent Legion of Mary Youth Conference.
Among the benefits of religious practice which she noted were:
o marriage stability - couples who practise the same religion are the most stable and committed while marriages in which neither spouse is religious are most at risk.
o teenagers are less likely to engage in risky activities such as sexual behaviour, alcohol or marijuana use, smoking, truancy and depression. They also have a better sense of their own dignity;
o less depression - those who attend church regularly have fewer depressive symptoms than average, whatever their age or sex. On the other hand, "those who described themselves as 'spiritual', rather than 'religious', had more depressive symptoms."
o religious practice helps people to cope with bereavement;
o it reduces the chances of a person committing suicide;
o it significantly increases a person's chances of living longer.
According to Dr Casey, research on the benefits of religion has exploded in recent years, and the growing evidence for the positive impact of religion is leading some psychiatrists to look again at its proper role in patient care.
It is increasingly argued, for example, "that if a patient is religious this should be taken into account by his or her psychiatrist and it should be seen as a potentially positive force in the person's life, with a role to play in the healing process."
The problem, in many cases, however, is that the psychiatrist's own hostility to religion may be an obstacle to proper care for a patient.
But more than two-thirds of the 126 medical schools in the US now run modules on religion and healing, up from just three in 1992.
Dr John Murray of Mater Dei Institute also addressed the conference, on the topic of the Commandments. All ten are as relevant today as they ever were, he said, and are the path to true freedom.
He noted how the list puts the worship of the one God first, with concern for material goods last, while today's society reverses this order, putting concern for economic matters first and God last.
o Dr Casey's study is available at ionainstitute.ie
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