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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
[...] A new nationwide study of obituaries has found that people with religious affiliations lived nearly four years longer than those with no ties to religion.
That four-year boost -- found in an analysis of more than 1,000 obits from around the country -- was calculated after taking into account the sex and marital status of those who died, two factors that have strong effects on lifespan.
[...] "We found that volunteerism and involvement in social organizations only accounted for a little less than one year of the longevity boost that religious affiliation provided," Wallace said. "There's still a lot of the benefit of religious affiliation that this can't explain."
So what else explains how religion helps people live longer? It may be related to the rules and norms of many religions that restrict unhealthy practices such as alcohol and drug use and having sex with many partners, Way said.
In addition, "many religions promote stress-reducing practices that may improve health, such as gratitude, prayer or meditation," he said.
[...] Way said there are limitations to the study, including the fact that it could not control for important factors related to longevity such as race and health behaviors. But a potential strength was that, unlike other studies, religious affiliation was not self-reported, but was reported by the obituary writer.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @03:43PM (1 child)
I don't think religion is the main reason why "statistically conservative Americans are generally happier than liberals". Remember, there are non-religious conservatives (Anonymous Coward for example) and there are religious liberals (Pope Francis for example).
How can you be happy if you are constantly feeling guilty for your privilege and for the historical battles won by your ancestors? Stuff like white guilt is self-hate.
Chasing after dates for polygamy is depressing:
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=26017&cid=691417 [soylentnews.org]
Knowing that your "friends" will instantly turn on you for wrongthink (see Kayne West) would make a person unhappy.
Conservatives tend to get their lives neatly in order. Don't knock it. You know where you will be sleeping and who you will be sleeping with. You know how the bills will get paid.
Liberals have jealousy/envy toward those who are better off. This is a cause of unhappiness. Conservatives are more willing to accept how things are, taking pride in their own accomplishments. Liberals are less able to take pride in their accomplishments; it was "the system" or "their privilege".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @05:03PM
Real leftists don't feel guilt over their ancestor's misdeeds or gloat over their ancestor's accomplishments; they know that the past is a thing to be learned from so that we can avoid emulating it in the future. None of my ancestors are documented in history as owning slaves, but even if they were, so what? It's unconscionable to hold a man responsible for the crimes of another, and idiotic to feel guilt for sins you haven't committed. Feeling anger over crimes inflicted upon your forbears is just as pointless and stupid - that's just playing the victim because you'd like to feel special and nothing makes the immature feel more special than persecution, whether real or merely perceived.