WEBVTT - Does religion make you happier? 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.080 I'm Anny, I'm Noah. This is Den and you're listening 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:18.080 to no such thing the show where we settle ard 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.880 arguments and yours by actually doing the research. This week, 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:23.760 do the boys need to find God? 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:37.480 No, there's no no such thing. No such thing. Touch Thank, Touch, Thank, 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:40.440 touch Thank. 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:47.640 Today's episode was pitched by my wife and it's about 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:52.280 religion and happiness. The question is does being religious mean 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.800 you're going to be happier. Over the past few years, 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.000 there's been something of a resurgence in young people attending church. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.840 New data from the Barner Group, which is a Christian 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.119 research organization, so you know, maybe biased, they it shows 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:09.399 that Gen z and Millennials are more frequently going to church, 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:12.560 outpacing older generations. So this is out of people who 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:15.760 are already church goers. But in twenty twenty two, church 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:18.559 going Zoomers and millennials went about one weekend per month. 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.399 Now that's up to just under two weekends per month, 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:24.240 so it's pretty big obviously, COVID whatever, I'm sure there's 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:26.720 other factors, but there's also been tons of other reporting on, 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:28.600 you know, arise in religion over the past few years. 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.360 It's like the trad caath kind of oh yeah, trend 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:33.360 these sorts of things that you can kind of see 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.880 ambiance le. So we want to find out if religion 0:01:35.920 --> 0:01:42.040 makes people happier. To start, I guess why don't we 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:44.680 all go around and explain our religious backgrounds. 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:48.400 Many, Well, my parents are very religious. We are Catholic, 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.360 Like we are a Catholic family growing up. There's it's 0:01:51.360 --> 0:01:54.840 called like Eastern right Catholicism, So it's basically the brand 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:58.600 of Catholicism in like the Arab world are in East Africa, 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.080 but it's still them in Catholic it's like just a 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:07.400 subsect of that. I grew up Catholic Mass every Sunday, 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.400 we went to like Sunday school. We like did it 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.239 all like first communion. My confirmation saint was Saint Andrew 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.799 because he was the saint of Lost the Items, and 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.280 I was, I was, I was looking for my game 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.000 boy at the time. You pick that, Yeah, you have 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.480 to choose who your saint is, and they like they 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.280 kind of hold your hand through it and like you 0:02:27.320 --> 0:02:30.520 look through them and like here's you're here's the saints 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.360 and what they're the saint of. And I was like, okay, 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:32.880 this makes sense. 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:34.200 Did you ever find Find the Game. 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:39.440 Yea, yeah, yeah, I think it was kind of loosely 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:40.120 related to that. 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:45.840 Hey he's just Devin. What about your background? 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:51.320 My background, My dad went to like Catholic school and 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:56.839 his family, he grew up brothers. But he had kind 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.640 of the opposite reaction of like because it was like 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:01.119 for down his throat as a kid. 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:03.280 He was like, I'm not going to raise. 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.760 Like we went to church who went to Mass every 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:11.839 once in a while, usually around like I was baptized. Yeah, 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:16.120 some major holidays, we didn't go all that often. So 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:21.240 I would say there was like a vague Christianity in 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.359 my life growing up, but like I didn't that wasn't confirm. 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.080 More just like a vig cultural thing like. 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.200 Yeah, you know, Christmas is about Jesus in some way, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:31.680 you know, something like that. 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:33.639 But yeah, we weren't overly religious. 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.200 I like I never belonged to like a specific church 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:40.000 over like you know, we'd go, oh, this church is 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.680 cool and go for like two months and then And I. 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:46.080 Feel like that's probably the average kind of relationship people 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.560 have to religion, where it's like vaguely around the holidays 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.320 kind of a reason, like some kind of like I 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:55.120 don't know, amorphous glue to your family, but not something 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.040 that you're like, yeah. 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:57.760 Yeah, it wasn't a weekly thing. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:01.600 Do you you know, have faith than Jesus Christ? 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.400 Do I believe in Jesus Christ? Are you I believe 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:06.720 in God? 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:07.160 Sure? 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:08.320 No? No? 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:10.600 Not not you do? Wouldn't consider itself religious at all? 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:12.800 No, I don't believe in God. 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:16.400 What happens after Yeah? 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:20.760 What do I think happens after you die? Nothing? 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:22.680 That's a whole other episode we should be. 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:23.000 Yeah. 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:25.200 Yeah, it's just never like even going to church and stuff. 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:27.440 It's just like I never felt like I see what 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.559 it does for other people and I'm like, oh that's cool, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.560 but like, yeah, for me, I like I don't feel anything. 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.960 I think I believe in God when I was younger. 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:39.240 I think it's something I grew out of with time. 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.559 So growing up, I mean, my family's Jewish. We always 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.800 consider ourselves very much more culturally Jewish than religious. We 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.120 would go to temple for like Passover and kind of 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:50.880 the major holidays, and we celebrated Hanukah, but it was 0:04:51.160 --> 0:04:54.280 it was very much in the background and not you know, 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.720 faith and belief hadn't really very little to do with it. 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.719 It was much more about family and kind of just 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:02.920 doing traditions. And I also just think at the time, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.440 like kind of politically and otherwise, like religion was a 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:08.520 much seemed like a much bigger conversation as like I 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:10.280 felt like there was so much music or other things 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.120 about being not religious. It felt like a bigger cultural 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.240 touchstone to like kind of point out the hypocrisy of 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.359 the Christian right and all that, you know, like stuff 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.160 like that seems so much more popular. 0:05:25.560 --> 0:05:30.320 We're making a documentary, but religion, Why doesn't he just 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:34.200 obliterate the devil and therefore get rid of evil in 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:35.919 the world? Will he will? 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:40.280 And I think that helps explain why now younger people 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.440 are exploring religion, because that's not like this big pervasive 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:47.160 if you look at Pendulum, Yeah, it's like that used 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:49.240 to be such a major thing of like pointing at 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.080 you know, the hypocrisy of you know, Jerry Falwell or whoever, 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.520 like these big religious figures. Yeah, like that whole thing, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.880 and like obviously that's still there and people criticize those 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.880 things all the time, so it's not like that's gone. 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:02.640 But it felt like he used to be like a 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:05.000 major talking point and maybe not just our focus on 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.839 just different things where it's like like yeah, I'm not 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:09.480 going to argue with you about Jesus or whatever. 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.919 Talking about this kind of cultural swing back to people 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.880 exploring religion, it's now I think like there's a backlash 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:20.720 towards what used to be. I think called like the 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:25.960 Reddit atheist, which is pretty much that Bill Maher documentary 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.640 where it's like okay, we get it, but yeah, you know, yeah, So. 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:34.200 It never really even occurred to me to earnestly explore religion. 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.120 I don't think now I'm I wouldn't consider myself religious, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:42.080 but I'm more interested in religion as like it's just 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:43.840 when you look at the parallels between all the major 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:45.760 religions and all these things are like I was just 0:06:45.800 --> 0:06:49.039 in Florence and you're looking at you know, painting over 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:52.520 painting over painting over centuries, and it's all the same, 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.880 you know, five scenes, and there's something at first you're 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:58.400 you see you go those are really interesting, and then 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:01.120 you see more and you go, okay, like it's baby 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:04.440 Jesus again. Then eventually I kind of hit a wall 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.440 and I was like, okay, wow, it's actually kind of amazing, 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:08.960 Like this is what this is like all people were 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:12.520 talking about, were like painting about for forever. It's like 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.400 there's a power in that sort of thing. And that 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:17.920 got me kind of then thinking more like, Okay, there's 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:21.320 obviously a real attraction to this, and then you know, 0:07:21.360 --> 0:07:24.560 reading more about history or different things and different perspectives 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.520 on theology, whatever, it's like I'm more interested in an 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.360 academic way, I suppose. And then then kind of it's 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.280 like wondering how many people who do go to church 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.760 or temple or whatever every week believe in that stuff 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.520 literally versus just like, Okay, these are good life lessons 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:43.240 or whatever, which I think is probably more common or 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.080 more common than maybe discussed where it's like, yeah, there's 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.320 a community aspect of Okay, these are people who live 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.640 near me who I can talk to or whatever, and 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:54.520 you know, we're learning this or that from whatever scripture. 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.960 And in that sense, I get wanting to attend services 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:01.960 and be involved in that way, even if you're not 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:07.600 personally like looking for you know, redemption or whatever you 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:10.120 pass this life. So I think I'm a little more 0:08:10.800 --> 0:08:15.160 sympathetic I suppose to religion that I than if you 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.600 had asked me maybe ten years ago or earlier than that. 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:22.800 Moving forward, Like my question with this and happiness is 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:25.640 would you get as much out of going to church 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.080 every week as you would by just joining a sports 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:32.600 club or something else like any other recreational community thing, 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.000 Like how much does the religious aspect play in versus 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.520 just like having people around you who maybe aren't just 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.640 your normal friend group but something else, and you're connected 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:42.640 by something different. 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.680 I'd be willing to bet that although both the religious 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:51.080 activity and the sports activity provide at its core, like 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.840 a sense of community that's like nice and familiar and comfortable, 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:58.520 I'd be willing to bet that the religious one feels 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:02.080 more important to people because it's like kind of the 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:05.640 higher calling, as you've heard before, or like something that 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.600 might affect what you think happens when you die, versus 0:09:09.640 --> 0:09:10.520 like the bowling league. 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.439 It's really fun, but probably not going to get me 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:14.559 into heaven maybe yeah yeah. 0:09:14.280 --> 0:09:17.760 Or like you know, religion at its core is kind 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.840 of like selling you on something right, like that this 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.520 thing will happen if you do X, Y, and Z 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:24.600 the right way. 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:28.600 Let's get our votes. Are religious people happier than non 0:09:28.640 --> 0:09:29.320 religious people? 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:36.120 If I had the guess, yes, because it gives you 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.440 something to look forward to, Yeah, especially now where things 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.880 feel like they're so bad and it's just sort of 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.640 like and it also gives I would imagine it gives 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:48.520 your life some sort of even if you don't understand 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.080 why things are happening, gives it some order. Yeah, if 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.560 there's some sort of thought that there is some sort 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.880 of order and there is something beyond sort of the 0:09:57.880 --> 0:09:59.319 struggle of today, I would guess. 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.640 Yes, Yeah, same. I think it's it has to do 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.960 with the level of comfort that you get if you 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.600 really believe that if you're a good person in your 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.199 whole life and then you get to go somewhere special afterwards, 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.640 that gives you level of comfort and it gives you 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:15.240 some direction. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:15.760 Yeah. 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:17.720 Even think about when people die, right it's like, oh, 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:19.600 you've seen him, and it's like. 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:23.400 Yeah, yeah, I think I leaned towards yes as well. 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.960 My only other thought on it was like, if you're 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:31.000 really like, let's say, extremely religious, Oh, I think you 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:32.760 could turn and then it could turn where it's like 0:10:32.800 --> 0:10:35.839 you're looking around you at all these sinners and yes, 0:10:36.080 --> 0:10:38.640 kind of just disgusted by everything you see. Then that 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:42.000 could make you, you know, more of a recluse or 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.679 like feel totally alone and isolated if you don't think 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.840 other people are being you know, religious in the right 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.480 way or religious at all, And it's what the hell, like, 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:52.480 what the hell world is this? So unless you then 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:54.160 I guess maybe you get through to the other side. 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:56.160 It's like, well, this is what I have to bear 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.640 to get through this. And then but with that count 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.560 is happiness. It's hard to say, yeah, I'm purely like 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:03.840 I'm going to church every week, and you know, I 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.040 make these friends and we talk about this stuff that 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.080 seems like a not positive in most cases. Obviously, then 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.480 there's issues with the church or whatever where not everyone's accepted, 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.880 and a lot of people maybe because their upbringing then 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.560 rebel against it and don't you know, definitely are not 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:21.960 interested even if maybe it would help them in some way. 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.800 So I'm curious to find out what the research says. 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:26.880 That's a good point. 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.000 I feel like, like you said, it's yes, and then 0:11:30.000 --> 0:11:32.040 it's a no, because I think there are people get 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:32.920 lost in it. 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.120 It's like, what is that called the bell curve? Yeah, 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:37.400 It's like it's like yes, no. 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:39.679 Yeah, I think if you hit the right medium level 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:41.760 it can be probably very beneficial. 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:44.920 People talk about like you know, people online and the 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.319 like psychosist thing of like oh they see the devil 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:50.440 and everything right, It's like, oh, actually that was that song. 0:11:50.520 --> 0:11:52.040 Wasn't just bad this is the devil? 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.200 Yeah, trying that, It's like, okay, imagine living life like that. 0:11:55.840 --> 0:11:58.240 So next up, I'm going to look into the research 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.560 and find out if there is a positive link between 0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.760 religion and happiness. And later I want to go to 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:07.160 temple myself and hear from some religious people and maybe 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.920 do some praying. That's all all that. After the break, 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.079 we're back. We're trying to figure out if religion makes 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.560 people happier. If I talked to doctor Harold Koenig, he's 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:29.239 a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University. 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:37.080 He's in researching spirituality and health. For about forty years. 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:42.040 I had been a nurse and then I became a 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:47.240 family physician, and during that time I would ask patients 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:51.400 how they're coping with their health issues. It was part 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:53.920 of what you know as a nurse we had been 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.760 trained to do, and so I continued that as a 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:02.400 family doctor, and many patients would talk about their religious faith. 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.520 So I thought, gosh, you know, we haven't been trained 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:11.680 on this in nursing school or medical school, or family 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:15.480 medicine or none of those areas. This was completely new 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.040 for me, and I thought, that's fascinating. Let's do some 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.319 research and just see how common this is and what 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.679 impact it has on a person's health. So that's how 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:36.439 I got started. So there are measures of well being 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:41.720 and happiness, and they are often maybe ten questions or 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:45.600 twenty questions, and so there are scales that you can 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.719 administer to give you a sense of how happy a 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:54.920 person is. And then you can also measure religious involvement 0:13:55.000 --> 0:14:01.920 through scales that are assessing dimensions like intrinsic religiosity, a 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:05.680 person's connection with God, the strength of their faith and 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:10.360 their religious commitment, their frequency of prayer, of scripture study, 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:13.480 those kinds of questions, and how often do they attend 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:18.720 religious services. These measures are all included in a questionnaire, 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:25.040 along with the person's age, race, gender, their socioeconomic status, 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:30.560 their social support, various other characteristics, and then we look 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:31.400 at the correlation. 0:14:35.160 --> 0:14:38.040 To get straight to it. Here's what his research has found. 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:42.440 One of the first studies we did actually now probably 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:46.120 over thirty years ago was looking at this exact question, 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:52.120 was a person's level of well being or happiness was 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:56.640 it connected with their religious faith and their religious practices, 0:14:57.280 --> 0:14:59.840 And in fact it was then that's kind of what's 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.160 prized me and encouraged me that to continue to do 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.440 research in this area. So then we started looking at 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:12.120 depression and anxiety, and then started looking at physical health 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:18.080 including blood pressure, immune functioning, longevity, all sorts of different 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:23.240 health outcomes, and they just kept coming up positively. Is 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:26.800 that those who are more engaged in a faith community, 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:30.840 those who had a stronger connection with God, just seemed 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:35.880 to do better in every way. Their social relationships were better, 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.840 you know, their blood pressure, as I said, was lower, 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.239 their immune functioning it was better. They were living longer, 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:46.680 from seven to fourteen years, longer than those who were 0:15:46.720 --> 0:15:50.520 not part of a faith community. It was just continually 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:55.320 reinforcing what I had seen clinically as a family doctor. 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.600 That's wild. The most fascinating part is how much longer 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.080 you live if you are engaging in those kind of 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.960 like regular religious activities. Seven to fourteen years is nuts. 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:12.480 It's a long time. Fourteen years. I could I could 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:13.320 pray a little bit for. 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.400 That that's part of the part of what you get 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:16.760 out of this. 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.880 Well, that makes sense because if they talk about when 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:23.480 you think about, you know, how deadly loneliness is. Yeah, 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.320 if you have this built in community, it's like a 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:28.920 shorthand for community right to me, right of just sort 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:30.880 of like you see a lot of people who you 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.520 are regularly seeing you're leaving the house, right, like, if 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:36.440 you're not doing too well, people who are going to 0:16:36.520 --> 0:16:39.280 be checking it up on you and you you know, 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.240 you think about okay, especially as you get older. Yeah, 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:45.800 if people don't have their kids aren't around, right, see 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.160 some older people where it's like, oh god, if that 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.960 neighbored it and like just you know, get some sort 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.080 of interest in that person that they would just literally 0:16:55.080 --> 0:16:55.560 be alone. 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:57.520 And some of those studies look into this too, like 0:16:57.600 --> 0:16:59.920 you're less likely to smoke and drink and gamble and 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:03.400 other vices to accountable that are gonna hurt your you know, 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.480 so it leads to other things. Pew Research Center did 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:08.720 a big study and released a lot of data on 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:13.440 this in twenty nineteen looking at the correlation, and it 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:16.400 bears out very similar results. They looked at a bunch 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.600 of countries, but for the US for an example, like 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:21.640 the percentage of people who say they are very happy 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:26.119 among those who are religiously active is thirty six percent 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:31.800 versus people who are unaffiliated or inactive it's twenty five percent. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.640 That is pretty consistent across the different countries. Some countries 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.840 like Mexico's much more religious, it seems like, so like there, 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.000 it's like seventy one percent of active religious people are 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:43.200 very happy to sixty one percent unaffiliated. But it's pretty 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:45.960 much about a ten point spread across the board. It's huge, 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:47.760 it seems like, which is yeah, pretty big. And that 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.640 also acts the same things as far as Health're more 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:52.800 likely to be civically engaged too, so you're more likely 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:55.600 to vote if you're religious, which makes sense, makes sense 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.040 to knowing what we know, Yeah, and same with smoking 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:06.320 in those things. Religiosity is on the decline overall societally. 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.359 That that means we're probably going to see societal well 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:14.640 being decrease. It's interesting to think about too, because it's 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.840 like I wouldn't necessarily argue that it's better for countries 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.200 to be religious, yeah, you know, especially separation of church 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:23.960 and state these like, but it's it's kind of an 0:18:23.960 --> 0:18:27.480 interesting thing like what's best for people, you know. 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.359 Yeah, which is what you hear from JD. Vance and 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:34.960 like all these kind of maga guys who are so 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.280 against the idea of like a secular society. Yeah, because 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.439 they're afraid or they're pretending to be afraid that there 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.240 might be societal decline if we move further away from 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:46.359 a like church. 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:51.359 Well that's the classic thing of like you take away 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.400 something and then you don't feel devoid. Right, So it's 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.760 like the country is becoming less religious and you don't 0:18:57.800 --> 0:18:58.800 build in. 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.720 Other ways for people to kind of you're also. 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:06.359 Shutting down the bowling alleys yeah, community, yeah, you know, 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:08.240 and it's it's the class that you know. It's like 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.359 if you talk about conservatives, you know, getting rid of 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.560 government programs and saying rely on your churches for that 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.440 sort of thing, right, I'm just sort of like, yeah, 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:20.399 the church is supposed to fill that void in a 0:19:20.400 --> 0:19:23.480 lot of conservatives' minds, and which makes sense based on 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.040 the study, right of like the people who are partaking 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:27.600 in this stuff are doing better. 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:28.720 But it's like it's crazy to. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.800 Be like, actually, the only way for you to live 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:33.680 longer is you got to figure out you got to 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.200 be a lot of one of these religions because we 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.320 as a government, we're not going to do anything for you. 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:40.800 So yeah, well that yeah, I know. 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:41.600 The church. 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:44.840 Is also a part of the study where it says, 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.639 like I'll read this. The data presented in the report 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:51.639 indicates that there are links between religious activity and certain 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.119 measures of well being in many countries. The numbers don't 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.240 prove that going to religious services is directly responsible for 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:00.800 improving people's lives. Rather, it could be certain kinds of 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.120 people tend to be active in multiple types of activities, 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:06.720 secular as well as religious, many of which provide physical 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:10.440 or psychological benefits. Moreover, such people may be more active 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.159 partly because they are happier and healthier rather than the 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:13.920 other right around. 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:15.960 Which makes sense, Like it's correlation versus cause. 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:19.160 Yeah, Like some total loner who doesn't go to church 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.600 probably might not go to something else or be involved 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:26.200 in something else too, So it's yeah, it's like which 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:28.919 is the start or which is the cause. It's interesting, like, 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:34.280 and I think a valid point to make for sure. Yeah, 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:36.600 I wanted to know how the social community factor weighed 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.720 against the faith element by itself, because the benefit coming 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:44.960 from having a community, or does belief itself impact health outcomes? 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:47.240 If I go to church every week, but maybe I 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:52.160 don't personally believe in God per se, I might still 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.520 reap some benefits of being involved in my community and 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:56.760 all this. How do you kind of balance those things 0:20:56.800 --> 0:20:58.240 or what do you see when you look into that. 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:02.040 I think they're both going on in terms of the mechanism. 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.840 So being part of a faith community reinforces your belief 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.960 and your commitment, and of course your belief and commitments 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:13.200 are reinforcing your engagement in a religious community, so they 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:18.520 are mutually reinforcing. Social activities are part of it. So 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.159 that's part of the mechanism, but it only explains about 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:26.160 twenty five percent of the effect that religious involvement has 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.680 on happiness. A lot of it has to do with 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:34.080 a personal connection with God, you know, believing that life 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:37.680 has purpose and meaning and that you're part of God's 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:39.920 plan in the world. That this gives you a sense 0:21:39.960 --> 0:21:42.760 of energy, and that's a big part of it. 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:45.800 So, I mean, you couldn't replace church going with say, 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:50.080 joining the bowling league. You're probably going to see different effects. 0:21:50.560 --> 0:21:54.879