29th March, 2008

WOLFGANG POLZER

Assist News Service

Regular worship is healthy. Churchgoers have a seven year longer life expectancy than those who abstain from worship, according to a US professor of medicine.

Professor Dale A. Matthews, of Washington D.C., was one of the speakers at a Christian Health Convention which took place with 1,100 participants in Kassel, Germany, from 27th to 29th March. He quoted from an investigation, which showed that regular churchgoers have an average life expectancy of 82 years compared with 75 years for non-churchgoers.

A regular religious activity not only enhances the health of Christians. Studies in Israel found that people living in a religious Jewish Kibbutz lived longer than those in a secular community.

Professor Matthews advised medical practitioners to include religious attitudes of patients in their therapy. Numerous scientific studies had shown that faith has a positive impact on physical and mental health.

There were many reasons for this phenomenon. Believers had a sense of purpose in their lives. They also had more social contacts and were less prone to consume tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Doctors should encourage patients to practice religion, said Matthews.

Hans-Juergen Ahrens, chairman of German health insurance firm AOK, promised that he would look into scientific studies about the positive correlation of faith and health. He had learnt that there are more that 140 studies involving more than 100,000 patients.

Wolfgang Polzer is senior news editor of the Evangelical News Agency idea, in Wetzlar, Germany.