Dear Graham,

In this country people are free to follow any
religion they choose, so long as its practices don't
break any Australian law. People here are also
free not to follow a religion. We have a secular
government and no official or state religion.
Our Governments are obliged to treat all citizens
as equal regardless of their beliefs. And religious
laws have no legal status in Australia.

I would question the fact that "religious
belief makes you happier and healthier."
I suspect that many people no longer
believe deeply in traditional religion (for a
variety of reasons), but some haven't found
a satisfying substitute.

Also let's not
overlook the fact that the rituals enacted in any
religion enhance the solidarity of the community as
well as its faith. For example - Baptism, Bar Mitzvah,
Weddings, Sabbath Services, Christmas Mass, and
funerals. Rituals serve to bring people together;
to remind them of their common group membership; to
reaffirm their traditional values, to maintain
prohibitions and taboos; to offer comfort in times of
crisis; and in general, to help transmit the cultural
heritage from one gneration to the next.

Of course, religion can be replaced by some belief system
that serves the same functions. It's a matter of personal
choice in today's society.

oops wrong link
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=13036&page=0

will contue with reply here

to quote david..""RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY:

“No one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6)""

done

""ANTI-SEMITISM:

And the people answered,
‘His blood be on us and on our children’” (Matt. 27:25)""

done

""to call the Bible “Word of God”
in any sense is to legitimize..this hatred reflected in its pages.

SEXISM:""

done

""For man was not made from woman,..[edited]""

thats clearly incorrect
sure god can impregnate...but mother is an important next step

thus..""..but woman for man.”..(1Cor. 8-9)""

depends on the man
and which mmmmm m-other

...""The message of the Christian church was once that women are evil""

rebutal at link

""She was taken out of man""

no adams dna..was edited[throwing away the 'y' chromosone
and doubling up on the 'X']..adfam lost a rib

then 9 mths later..got a woe-man
adam is father/brother...clone
keep it in context

[if it is 'normal..huh,man process
...it dont need to be mentioned]

god might have impregnated adam[woman]
only too easy[see story of mary]

what proof adam was male?

""and was not his equal,
but his help meet.""

re read gen 2

chose 2..or 3

""Evil entered human history..through the weakness of the woman.""

lerts look at the so called crime
the wife went to the shop...wanted a special treat for a special man

it wasnt the fruit
as much as the wisdom...
leading them ...eventually to truth[knowing good from bad]

heck learning brother cl-one Xy
married sister[clone XX]

""She was made to bear the..blame and the guilt.
She was the source of death."""

yeah
the death of ignorance
[who dares hold their mum to such account
or your sister...or your 'significant 'other']

""He also blames the Bible for inspiring homophobia, corporal punishment and environmental degradation""

fixers fix/healers heal
dividers divide..liars lie

""Go the url cited for details.
Literal believers in the Bibl.. have caused great human suffering.
Posted by david f,"""

i disagree david
but dont have the post limits..to refute the errors

Well said Lexi :)

Graham, after reading that link, I felt the authors were really trying to say that with the many different religions/Gods worshipped in this country, we can't be seen to favour one religion over another.

If one particular religion's members feel as though they are more vilified than others (eg Muslims at the moment), then they are certainly not going to be a happy bunch of people.
Certainly one could go on to suggest that this feeling of exclusion could also affect their mental health at least.

Could it be that the findings suggest that those who are happily part of a religious group that meets regularly and maybe socialises together as well, would be happy and generally have more healthy attitudes to life?

My husband is not a religious man, but is very happy and healthy as part of a large golf club that has a very active social and physically active lifestyle.

Much the same as a happy religious group of people I would suggest...

Thanks Suse.

I totally agree with the comparison of your husband's
golf club to religion. Both function as a form of
social "cement." They unite the members by regularly
bringing them together to enact various "rituals",
and by providing them with the shared values and
beliefs that bind them into a community.

I guess a society requires some shared set of beliefs
to ensure its cohesion - and these don't have to be
religious. Some people argue that other belief systems
fulfill the functions of religion so well that they
can actually be regarded as "religions."

The essential difference between such belief systems and
religion is, of course, that though the former serve some
of the same functions as religion,
they are not oriented toward the supernatural,
a distinction that should not be disregarded.

So suppose, just suppose, that practicing religion was found not to promote health, or perhaps even to be unhealthy - would that mean that religion were to be banned?

Religion comes way before health, and for that matter way before observing the man-made law of the land (which Lexi mentioned).

If people practice religion in order to be healthy (or at least that's what they believe they do), then they do not worship God, but rather than own bodies - they would be better off eating healthy food in moderation and exercising more often. And if they practice in order to be happy, then they worship their happiness and there are probably better ways to have that in the short term.

Lexi (and Yuyutsu),

>>The essential difference between such belief systems and
religion is, of course, that though the former serve some
of the same functions as religion,
they are not oriented toward the supernatural,
a distinction that should not be disregarded.<<

Indeed, I think this is VERY essential: you can mimic some of the functions of religion (i.e. the feelings of being part of a community by a golf club, the strict adhesion to its belief system by ideologists like e.g. marx-leninists, its belief in a super-intelligence that is behind the laws of nature by deists like Einstein, etc.) provided you do not see religion REDUCED to this particular function of it, like e.g. Durkheim (who apparently himself was areligious) who seems to have reduced all religion to its ritual function.

Trying to follow Durkheim reminds me of reading somebody's account of the history - psychology, sociology etc - of mathematics, who does not understand the mathematics involved. There will be undeniable facts in what he/she is writing about, but if you are a mathematician you can somehow see that the author is an outsider to the subject.