I have no doubt Rosemary's research is correct.

Those who engage in navel gazing or search for meaning generally do so because they are unhappy with the lack of meaning or sanity in their life and are genuinely trying to find their way out of it. Their search is naturally driven be a general unhappiness.

By contrast, most people locked into a mainstream religious brand are there because they were born into it or because such religions offer quick-fix, spoonfed solutions, thus negating the need to search any further. Faith is the key word.

Faith: "That which allows us to believe what we know to be untrue".

Cynical perhaps, but I have no doubt religious faith is a source of comfort and - to quote the author - "has also played a crucial role in promoting notions like empathy, compassion, forgiveness, and social justice". As do nearly all spiritual enterprises.

Perhaps more so, they have played a crucial role in world division, bigotry and bloodshed. I say perhaps because nobody has the research capability to quantify the positives and set them against the negatives and come up with a definitive answer. As much as they may try.

Many spiritual seekers are, no doubt, in a state of anguish, but at least they are searching. My hope is that they will land on answers that are expansive rather than reductionist. Ones that celebrate the immense diversity of world views rather than succumb to 'this is the one and only'.

There is nothing wrong with fixing on a world view, so long as that fixation comes with an understanding that it is only as legitimate as is our own very limited experience. As soon as our world view becomes a prompt for intolerance towards others, then we have taken a dangerous step backwards.

Steeeerike 1

<<The findings also suggest that alternative spiritual belief systems require more attention if their potential link to poorer mental and social wellbeing is to effectively explored.>>

Steeeerike 2
<<Spirituality is a burgeoning "INDUSTRY".>>

Steeerike 3
<<The findings from this research showed that young adults who believe in a spiritual or higher power other than God had higher rates of problems in the three domains of mental health examined.>>

OUT!

Now we know.. fake religion.. pseudo religion.. false religion.. has ill effects on mental health by measurable points.

So, why not simply turn away from sin, come back to the living God, revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and receive the Holy Spirit and enjoy the fruit thereof?

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Self control etc etc.

Be reconciled.. made 'at one' "Atonement" be fixed up.. repaired.. renewed.. revived, rejuvinated.

Seek Him, and you will find Him, if you search for Him with all your heart.

Repent... (from sin) Believe in Christ Jesus( His teaching, sacfificial death and resurrection)

I PROMISE...

-it won't make you rich,(but you will be richer than you ever imagined)
-it won't get you a 'hot girlfriend', (but you will find the deepest love you can imagine between man and woman)
-it won't pay your bills, (but it will set you free from many things which prevent you paying them)
-and best of all, as Jesus said: "I go to prepare a place for you... that where I am, you may be also"

"I am the resurrection and the Life, he who believes in me, will live, even though he dies".(Jesus)

I was about to say roughly the same thing, Gecko. The author said:-

"Treating religiousness and spirituality as the same thing is to ignore fundamental differences in the worldviews of those who maintain beliefs tied to religious teachings and those who embrace alternative forms of spirituality."

As you pointed out, this would be like apples and orange: a comparison between those who "maintain" religious beliefs needs to be sub-categorised into those who have never questioned and those who have questioned and found the answers - in each case however, one would assume such persons to have either solved, or shelved questions of self. On the other hand those who "embrace" alternative forms of spirituality are, of necessity, those who are looking for answer and therefore would naturally present as having problems with the basic issue of self.

It is therefore hardly surprising that the second group would present as more prone to mental illness.

I realise that a short article such as this could hardly include all the complexities contained within this writer's PhD. But I would be extremely curious to know more about the parameters in which the definition of the word "spirituality" is framed in this context?

I had similar thoughts and reactions to reading this one, Romany & Gecko; one thought was that the very use of words like 'higher power' lends itself to forms of spirituality linked to 12-step movements - by definition, people who are seekers/searchers, struggling with addiction and mental health, so one might expect higher self-reported levels of anxiety etc as Rosemary's research found. My personal experience too is that growing up in formal religious institutions (church in my case) provides a firm (rigid?) moral framework that doesn't require much self-searching and questioning, at least in the early stages, so might obviously be linked to increased pro-social behaviours, as they are described and advocated by the particular religion/institution. I'd add to Gecko's point about faith from a slightly different perspective, that the genuine 'faith journey' requires acceptance of ambiguity and not knowing, but 'faith' as it is espoused in many religious institutions is as you described it Gecko, an abandonment of thinking and 'the search' to the spoon-fed, simplistic answers.

This makes me think of various psychological theories and models of moral development, and makes me wonder about whether the religion model represents one platform for exploration of a more nuanced, sophisticated moral/ethical approach to life. M Scott Peck wrote about this too, and suggested that it was necessary at some point to work from a rules-based morality before challenging it, even abandoning it for a time, and later perhaps returning to a similar belief system or spirituality free from the 'rules' element, or a completely different framework (the 'mystic' as a recall him writing about it).

Interesting findings which further supports evidence that faith in God is good for mental well being. Many are searching for the truth and in this process go down different routes to explore what suits them. When a person finds meaning for their existence then it is as if the blocks in the puzzle finally fit in. For me it was when I experienced the power of God's love through Jesus Christ. I cannot see how a person can go on living without a purpose and meaning for his/her life. It is this meaning and purpose that provides the health generating energy to cope with all that life throws at us through the various challenges.

For those who are interested you can read more about my journey through my book at www.lulu.com/jeshua.

The USA is supposedly the most "religious" country on the planet, or so the hype tells us.

If this were really true then the USA would be a completely different country, a country of relative peacableness where the traditional religious virtues sharing and cooperation would be an integral part of the common lived practice, and the general aspiration.

Instead there is a widespread "culture" of guns--often stridently boosted by groups that call themselves "religious". Thousands of gated "communities". Very high rates of mental illness. An example being the tens of millions who subscribe to the TOXIC "world"-view promted by the Left Behind books. It has the highest prison population per capita in the world. One of the worlds highest murder rates. It still engages the barbaric practice of capital punishment. It is the largest arms merchant (and user) in the world. It has a humungously huge pornography industry. A humungously huge level of violence against women altogether. A consistently high level of teenage pregnancies. It is saturated with drugs both legal and illegal. Its mainstream media is saturated with lies, with those on the "religious" right lead the pack in telling porkies. It is "ruled" by a bunch of lying psycho-paths who have systematically gutted what was still left of a common civic culture, with Fox so called "news" setting the standard---of depravity.

Some years ago Murdoch who is Fox's owner, was made a "Knight" of the "catholic" church for services (and supposedly inspiration) provided.
Here in OZ Murdoch uses the OZ "news"-paper to push "catholic" values.
If you want to find out the truth about anything dont relie on the OZ.

To be fair the OZ dose sometimes feature some excellent stuff which is soon over-whelmed by the wall of partisan propaganda, half truths and downright lies.

Ho Hum - beyond the US, I think you'll find that throughout history, the more religious the nation, the lower the standard of living.

The more secular the country, and the more people who aren't religious, the higher the standard of living.

The findings of the article don't surprise me, earlier posters have aptly summed up the reasons why, and they're all psychological rather than 'god' imbued.

And boaz, as for the 'industry' comments there, I can't help but wonder what those Christian bookshops and so forth are known as. Christianity has elements of 'industry' as does anything where monetary transactions take place, be it a school fete or a multinational corporation.

As the author points out, defining spirituality is a difficult endeavour. I'd regard many of the 'new-age' style ritualistic faiths (crystals, tarot, etc) as very similar to religion, and given that they're well outside mainstream society, it doesn't surprise me in the least that the people in them are probably unsettled.

That however, is entirely different to agnostic or even offshoots of atheistic spiritual belief sets that discard any need for ritualism.

The devil's in the detail.

"So, why not simply turn away from sin, come back to the living God, revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, and receive the Holy Spirit and enjoy the fruit thereof?"

Well for one thing doing so appears to have no mental health benefits "By contrast, belief in God, church attendance, and religious background appeared to have little connection with anxiety and depression or thought disturbance in young adulthood." - connections which I would have expected would flow from "Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Self control etc etc."

Maybe a touch of self control derived from the fear of retribution "Lower rates of antisocial behaviour were found however among males who attend church on weekly, and among females who were either unsure about God or believed in God."

David focussing on the weakness of non-thiestic sprituality highlights the failure of thiestic faith to make any difference in areas where faith should make a difference if it's claims have any basis. Someone in-dwelt by the holy spirit in fellowship with god, knowing that their sins are forgiven and that death has no hold on them should have better mental health than those of us making it up as we go and facing our own mortality have. They don't which is quite damming.

Own goal on David's part I suspect.

R0bert

TRTL... you said:

Ho Hum - beyond the US, I think you'll find that throughout history, the more religious the nation, the lower the standard of living.

The more secular the country, and the more people who aren't religious, the higher the standard of living.

Well.. nothing against you personally but that is utter rubbish.

We have a term in 'Missiology' (the social aspects of the incoming of the Gospel to a secular or animistic society) which is "Redemption and Lift"

Spiritual renewal, and most of repentance, brings with it some very identifiable benefits, both personal and economic. The Gospel has 2 pats.
1/ Repentance. ( a turning away FROM...sin)
2/ Faith. ( a turning TO...Christ and the ethics of the kingdom of God)

Drunkenness and substance abuse (both very costly habits) will not generally remain when someone seriously repents. (a glass of wine at a meal or social occasion is not 'drunkenness)
They immediately have more disposable income. Thus, now having direction, more income, more motivation, a new moral and mental framework....their lives 'lift' and rise on the socio economic scale.

While churches are not immune to personal squabbles and disputes, the general tone is far more uplifting than anything secular society can offer. All this improves one's mental health, well being and peace of mind.

The 'Spirituality Industry' is easy to find.

http://www.lifeact.com/catalogue.html but it pretty much always costs MONEY $$$....

Salvation and knowledge about Christ is no more expensive than a low cost Bible, an open heart and mind at a free evangelistic meeting, or.. if you have a computer, 100% free as you explore the online good news at Bible Gateway.

I've only heard of ONE 'zero cost' secular/newagey thing which I mentioned on my thread 'A Journey'called "KNOWLEDGE"... SEMINAR.

My non Christian mate described his experience doing this. The culmination was simply placing their tongue on the roof of their mouths, and focusing (meditating?) and the idea was that this (it could have been any kind of physical action) brought about a tranquility and well_being feeling.

You also have to understand the spiritual philosophy and possibly the connection to why some people "Jump the rails" within the spiritual aspect. Spirituality requires that you work through yourself your problems and to live in the now which requires a lot of hard work for most people as they would not know what to do or how to do it. So most would have given up but say they are "spiritual". How were the questions asked? Have these people been on spiritual courses? Do they still go on spiritual courses or have contact with the teachers? If they have, what were the courses on? How qualified were the teachers? Do they know how to "work with yourself to find the answers". Is the teacher available for follow up discussions?

The concept of religion though is more one were you have set rules and you follow them at all times and talk to a guru of the religion once a week for all of your questions and if you make a mistake in life, you are quickly forgiven so that you can move on. They have no freedom to explore their own spirituality due to the constraints of that religion. Their questions have been answered by another.

And that's the thing. I am not saying either is good or bad, but more than one is highly structured and filled with rules creating a sheep mentality, whilst the other requires you to think for yourself and this is harder.

Before you answer me saying that "religion is great and no we don't have a sheep mentality", understand the concepts of your religion and what you do when you go to church. Are you allowed to challenge what the priest or minister is saying even in a scientific aspect? If you did, you would soon find as I have, that you would be ostrocized.

It will be interesting to see where we are with spirituality in 100 years time. Will we have returned in droves to religion for the security and reminder of a rules based society (as Timbo describes) in the face of a major change, or will we have challenged the rules and abandoned 'mainstream' religion for another type of spirituality or none at all until the next challenge awaits us.

I agree with gecko's observation that it is not difficult to believe that those who have been born into a faith, particularly one that is considered mainstream, are more at peace with their lives than someone who might be 'dabbling' or looking for answers down a less 'mainstream' path ie.seeking answers. Although, religious mania can be a sign of mental health problems in itself and I am not confining this to 'mainstream' religion but to any overly paranoid response to a set of beliefs.

Perhaps the answer is that there is none. There is nothing wrong with that but the human species now no longer consumed entirely with their next meal and hunting the next mammoth or gathering a few berries needs to find 'meaning' to their lives. Some don't believe that this meaning can come from life itself and the wonders of the world around us.

Maybe we are destined to be forever debating the various intricacies of spirituality for a long time to come.

No, boaz, your response was utter rubbish. Nothing against you personally either, but you're just plain wrong.

Look. At. The. World.

Your answer, was that missionaries changed the religion of certain other people and improved their lives. I have no doubt this is true and yes, they simply changed from one religion to another.

Ho Hum pointed out that the US has a higher rate of religiosity, but also higher rates of violence, when compared to more secular nations.

That may be a coincidence I suppose. I suppose it may also be a coincidence that Europe, which is becoming steadily more secular, is far less violent, by and large, and the violence hotspots tend to be in more religious nations.

It's a simple fact of life that the less education on average a country has, the more religion and the more violence. Look at the Christian nations of South America. Look at the nations of Africa, steeped in religiosity, be it tribal, Chrisian or Muslim.

It's a simple fact, boaz. No matter what way you try and twist it. There may be other reasons. I'm not saying religious people are less educated, than non religious, though in large demographics it tends toward that direction. You generally can't make hard and fast statements either way.

But when you try and deny the facts because it doesn't suit your religion, that makes me very annoyed. By all means, try to find other explanations to fit the facts, but don't dismiss the reality as 'rubbish.'

That mentality reeks of the dark ages, and is what I fear in Christianity. Not violence in this day in age, but rejection of facts because it doesn't suit, as exemplified by the creationists who seek to deny science in favour of their bible.

TRTL writes

'It's a simple fact of life that the less education on average a country has, the more religion and the more violence.'

Just happens that the most dangerous place on earth is in the mother's womb in 'educated countries'. A result of the religion of human secularism and championed by the earth worshipers.

Interesting article.

The difference between spirituality and religion is the former is biological [limbic system] and the latter institutional. Animism and ancestor worship can to call-up on a sprit to deal with a problem being faced by the believer, often a survival situation [hence, mention of the limbic system]. With Jewish henotheism Moses' [if he existed] dilemma was to his ensure flock focused on a Yahveh [a tribal war/volcano god] and not to transition to an agriculture god [i.e., calf].

Early spiritality was perhaps the Shaman's attempt to make sense of the ecology and how to live within it. In the Middle-Eastern Western path religions appeared with the establishment of the Sumer and evolved from there for centures: e.g., Nicaea, Costantinople, Kent, Vatican II ect.

Moreover, participants in a religion indwell [Polanti] in the performance of the priesthood.

• To what degree does the belief that one is on a personal spiritual journey or quest reinforce prosocial values and attitudes?
• Does the belief that all things are connected at a spiritual level serve to strengthen one’s sense of connection with others at the everyday mundane level or instead serve to de-emphasise the overall importance of the nature of one’s daily interactions with others?
• Does an emphasis on self-transformation and personal growth help to reinforce or undermine notions like moral obligation, social responsibility and social justice?
• To what extent does the inner spiritual quest lead to improvement in wellbeing, and to what extent might it encourage an undue focus on oneself and one’s own personal problems, thereby exaggerating the importance of both?

Dear Researcher (forgive me for forgetting your name)

I think it is quite difficult to answer all these questions. Faith is such a personal thing. People arrive at spiritual beliefs in so many different ways.

For me, the reality is that I live in this world. I work, have friends, have fun, love in a metaphysical, spiritual and physical sense. My life experience has led me to a particular belief and I practise that with people I know. We harm no-one, love others, do good, think and laugh.

The belief I have now is different from the belief I had as an adolescent. I am educated to masters level and work in a research and policy role in local government.

People change all the time, too. They undergo crises in life. Some see these challenges as progressive steps in personal and spiritual growth, often in hindsight.

Faith is not amenable to the sort of research that academics often do.

And faith may be different from organised religion. Faith is simple and not always explainable. In itself it needs no defence or analysis, only sharing where this may help another.

All the best.

TRTL,

Creationists do not deny science. They only deny poor science, or philosophy dressed up as science.

I’ll define a creationist as someone who accepts the first chapters of Genesis as an historical account of earth’s history and reliable starting point for scientific investigation.

With that definition, many of the most famous and prominent scientists of the last five hundred years, the founders or most scientific disciplines, were creationists, continuing up to the present day.

Take away the contributions of Bacon, Copernicus, Newton, Kelvin, Boyle, Ramsay, Pascal, Mendel, Pasteur, and many, many more, and imagine what an unhealthy state western science would be in.