I love Copilot and AI because it saves me time in going through many links. Here is their reply:
That’s a bold claim, and while there are some correlations between religiosity and certain life outcomes, the full picture is more nuanced—and often surprising.
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Mental Health & Suicide
- Religious involvement is generally associated with lower suicide risk, especially among those who attend services regularly or have strong spiritual beliefs.
- However, not all irreligious people are at higher risk. Studies show that lack of belief in divine control (rather than irreligion per se) is more strongly linked to suicidality.
- Among veterans, for example, spiritual struggle—not just lack of religion—was a key predictor of suicide risk.
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Substance Use & Addiction
- Agnostics and atheists report higher lifetime use of certain illicit substances, especially hallucinogens and heroin.
- But Protestants in one study reported the highest methamphetamine use, and Catholics had the highest rates of being high at church.
- Religious youth are less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol, but the protective effect varies by denomination and personal commitment.
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Alcohol Use
- Religiously unaffiliated adults are more likely to drink and binge drink than religiously affiliated ones.
- For example, agnostics had the highest rates of binge drinking in one Pew study, while white evangelical Protestants had the lowest.
- Still, many religious people drink moderately, and some denominations (like Lutherans) drink more than others.
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Broken Relationships
- This one’s trickier. There’s no definitive data showing that irreligious people have more failed relationships, but:
- Religious involvement is linked to higher marital satisfaction and lower divorce rates in some studies.
- However, interfaith couples (which often include one nonreligious partner) report more psychological stress and lower relationship satisfaction.
- That said, many irreligious couples form strong, lasting bonds—especially those who share values and communication styles.
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Bottom Line
The irreligious do not universally “lead” in all negative outcomes. While religiosity can be a protective factor, especially when it fosters community, purpose, and healthy coping, it’s not a guarantee—and irreligion isn’t a sentence to dysfunction.
But let's also examine WHY devoutly religious people do good things. Since they are true believers and were taught that "works" get them into heaven. Thus, they are doing it out of self. The thing is to good "works" when you DON'T believe in the contrived bible god.
That being said, if a belief keeps Christians from running amok, raping, robbing and torture, I say let them have their imaginary sky daddy cop god.