Fitzpatrick's Church Attendance Study [off-topic]

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---Michael D Fitzpatrick <inventions@juno.com> wrote:

>

> USA: Church attendance increases life expectancy by 7 years

> It may not always be the most exciting event, but attending church

> weekly demonstrably increases life expectancy, according to a study

> published recently by the National Science Foundation. People who

> attend a church, mosque or synagogue each week have a life expectancy

> 7 years longer than non-churchgoers. The difference in the coloured

> population is even more marked: up to 14 years. Robert Hummer, the

> Foundation's Head of Research, says that scientists have considered

> religion to be an unsuitable subject of study for long enough, and it

> is only recently that the connections between faith and religion have

> been investigated. Source: The Gazette/Colorado Springs, USA, 11

> December 1998


BRYCE
     From the information presented, it is impossible to know what (if
any) incidental factors the study accounted for.  For example, the
mere fact that some people attend church could mean that they have an
additional source of friends and acquaintances.  Hence, I could
postulate that, as a group, church attendees might be happier.  This
could translate into a big gain in life expectancy.

     Another matter which would need to be considered:  What criteria
did the study use to separate "churchies" from the "churchless?" 
Perhaps they chose a group of (oh, say) 3000 people from the
population at random, and broke them down on the basis of whether they
had gone to a meetinghouse at least twice a month.  Even if there was
no correlation between church attendance and life expectancy,  the
study would still show that the church-going group had a higher life
expectancy, simply because the non-churchgoing group would contain
everyone whose ill health didn't permit church attendance.  

     Far from proving that God exists, this study is probably better
evidence that the NSF has too much time and money on its hands.
 

> INDIA: Jesus Film miracle

> A 16-year-old girl from a village in the northern Indian state Bihar

> died - but still had an important mission to fulfill. A team which

> wanted to show the Jesus film in the village had been brusquely turned

> away by the village elders, who refused them permission. As the girl's

> parents were about to bury her, she woke up from the dead and said

> something amazing: the God of which the film team spoke had sent her

> back to the village for 7 days to tell them about him. The girl went

> to search for the team, and brought them back to the village, where

> they could show the film. Hundreds of people decided to become

> Christians, and at least six new churches were started. Source: AD

> 2000 Prayer Track News, Vol 7 No. 4


BRYCE
     Hmmph.  Did the girl die seven days later, as promised?

==
Bryce Anderson
http://members.tripod.com/~Idafab/index.html

Thus spake Nostradamus:  "Two nations shall go to war.  One shall lose."  What a remarkable prediction of the Vietnam War!


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