Religion and Health--is there a connection?

Is there a connection between physical health and the religion that one adheres to and believes in? Suppose you were a Moslem; would you be healthier than say a Jew or a Hindu? Of course if you are a person who straps bombs to your body and blows yourself up, then I would tend to say that your religion is an unhealthy one -- at least for the bomber who just killed himself.

Now the Jews were given special health guidelines which Moses wrote down and put into a little scroll that went on the side of the Ark of the Covenant (which is far different than Noah's ark). Included in these guidelines or laws of health were such things are if you touched a dead animal, you would be "unclean" until evening. And there was a differentiation between "clean" and "unclean" animals. Oh yeah!! The clean ones are permissible to eat, and the unclean ones were not. For example, if an animal both chewed cud and had a cloven hoof, then it was a clean animal. This would include deer, cows, elk, and maybe some other animals. But if it had a cloven hoof and did not chew cud, it would not be a clean animal. An example would be a camel.

There is a whole slew of guidelines in the "laws of Moses" which spell out what things to avoid to stay healthy.

Today, if you are interested in looking up the research on the web, you will find that members of the Seventh-day Adventist church tend to live longer. That is because most of them are vegetarians and just plain live a better life style than the majority of Americans. Not only do they live longer, they enjoy greater health while they are alive -- and that is a very important point. Who wants to have longevity with suffering?

So, in conclusion, I would have to say that there IS a connection between religious beliefs and health.

Stay healthy till next time,
David A. Youngs
polybids@yahoo.com
http://polybids.blogspot.com

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