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Is Religion Good for Your Health? The Effects of Religion on Physical and Mental Health. By Harold G. Koenig, M.D. New York: Haworth Pastoral Press, 1997. Paper. 136 p. $19.95.
Harold Koenig performs an enormous service in Is Religion Good for Your Health? by reviewing studies on the relationship of religion and both physical and psychological health. The research, which now consists of hundreds of studies, consistently supports the conclusion that many religious values are highly functional in facilitating emotional and physical health. In science-religious conflicts, the claim is often made by both sides that science is empirical, subject to experimental verification, whereas religion is based on faith. This commonly stated assumption creates an artificial dichotomy which ignores the fact that much research has been completed on many religious beliefs. The Bible teaches that living a Christian life will help one avoid many problems that those who reject this worldview experience.
Though often accepted as a given, and part of a religious education diet of many, until recently few empirical studies have researched the specific effects of religion on happiness and life success. The obvious belief that maintaining abstinence until marriage would avoid the heartaches of venereal disease and other difficulties is confirmed by a recent report by the World Health Organization. The study concludes that one in every hundred sexually active individuals from age 1549 is HIV positive, and among those infected, one in ten does not know it. The...