The entrance to the Medical Center at Duke University, where Drs. Harvey Cohen and Harold Koenig have their principal appointments.\u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve often had occasion here and elsewhere to mention the prolific Alister McGrath, an Anglo-Irish theologian who earned his doctorate in divinity from Oxford before earning an Oxford doctorate in intellectual history but after earning an Oxford doctorate in molecular biophysics. \u00a0Between pages 235 and 267 of Eric Metaxas, Life, God, and Other Small Topics: Conversations from Socrates in the City<\/em> (New York: Plume\/Penguin, 2011) there is a transcript of a New York City speech by Dr. McGrath bearing the provocative title \u201cThe Twilight of Atheism.\u201d\u00a0 Here\u2019s a passage from it:<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s look at another argument that we often hear, which is that in some way, religion is pathological.\u00a0 In other words, it is bad for people. . . .<\/span><\/p>\nSince about 1990, there\u2019s been a huge amount of empirical research trying to ask, \u201cWhat impact does religion have on people\u2019s well-being?\u201d\u00a0 Again, you need to be aware that this is an ongoing research field [certainly continuing beyond late 2006, when he spoke these words!] and that there are all kinds of problems involved in the research.\u00a0 For example, what counts as being religious?\u00a0 What counts as well-being?\u00a0 The answer generally is longevity and speedy recovery from illness.\u00a0 Let\u2019s agree that there are all kinds of difficulty here, but the work has been done and continues to be done.<\/span><\/p>\nIn a very important survey of 2001, Harvey J. Cohen and Harold G. Koenig looked at a hundred evidence-based studies \u2014 not one hundred people, but one hundred peer-reviewed studies.\u00a0 Here is what they found: 79 percent of these studies showed at least one positive correlation between religious involvement and well-being.\u00a0 Then, twenty either showed no pattern or a mixed pattern \u2014 a little bit good, a little bit bad, but nothing conclusive.\u00a0 And one showed a negative correlation between religious involvement and well-being.\u00a0 Now, we must not overstate this point.\u00a0 This does not prove there is a God, and as the research is still ongoing, we mustn\u2019t say, \u201cThat how things are; that\u2019s the end of it,\u201d because clearly the work is still being done.\u00a0 There are two points to make here:<\/span><\/p>\nNumber one, if people like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris were right, shouldn\u2019t those figures actually have been the other way around?\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t they have shown that, in some way, religious involvement actually was having a negative impact on people\u2019s well-being, because of psychological damage?\u00a0 But that is not seen.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd secondly, a major issue here in the United States:\u00a0 If a person\u2019s religious commitment and spirituality are implicated in well-being and are implicated in speedy recovery, doesn\u2019t that have implications for public health-care policy in this nation?\u00a0 Again, a very sensitive, but very interesting, issue to raise.\u00a0 (253-254)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019ve often had occasion here and elsewhere to mention the prolific Alister McGrath, an Anglo-Irish theologian who earned his doctorate in divinity from Oxford before earning an Oxford doctorate in intellectual history but after earning an Oxford doctorate in molecular biophysics. \u00a0Between pages 235 and 267 of Eric Metaxas, Life, God, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9221,8963,17141,16675,6994,14369,17144,17150,14665,17153,2412,17147,17156,743,177,17159,2454,9967],"class_list":["post-88462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alister-mcgrath","tag-benefit","tag-cohen","tag-damage","tag-dawkins","tag-duke","tag-harold","tag-harold-koenig","tag-harvey","tag-harvey-cohen","tag-health","tag-koenig","tag-medical-center","tag-religion","tag-richard-dawkins","tag-sam-harris","tag-university","tag-well-being"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Duke's](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/10\/800px-MedicalCenter.jpg\")
<\/a>