The spiritual but not religious likely to face mental health issues, drug use, study says

[NJCher]

5. As usual, they get it backwards

What this study is really a measure of is is how sick the society is and therefore how much people sensible people are going to reject the sick society's tenets.

It's admirable to be maladjusted in a sick society like America's. In fact the more a person rejects the de facto American principles (example: junk food, consumerism), the healthier they are.

The sicker the society, the more likely it is that people will reject the "belief systems" the society sets up.

This article notes that more Americans define themselves as spiritual than do Brits, and while the culture in Britain is not exactly a model for mental health, it at least doesn't have near the gun and violence problem that the U.S. does.

The researchers state:
According to Luhrmann, organized religion provides three outlets that benefit churchgoers' well being: social support, attachment to a loving God and the organized practice of prayer.

Of these three, there are two that these researchers don't get correct. An example would be that spiritual people don't engage with others on a regular basis. Wrong-O. There are spiritual centers set up all over the place and people who go to them have attachments to their fellow human beings there.

What about people who convene regularly to do yoga? Bet they didn't count that. But for many who approach it in a spiritual sense, yoga could be considered an "organized practice of prayer."

I won't even address "attachment to a loving God," as most people get the picture.


Cher

Oh and one last thing--and this is related to CNN--look at the dufus picture they chose to illustrate this story. Anything to castigate those who operate out of the mainstream.