Religion may be the key to higher wellbeing

A recent Gallup poll shows that in the United States, very religious citizens hold a higher wellbeing than the nonreligious.

The poll surveyed more than 676,000 interviewees and examined the relationship between religiosity and emotional health and religion and physical health. Very religious Jewish citizens scored highest on the survey, followed by very religious Mormons.

Not religious, atheist or agnostic scored at the bottom of the wellbeing scale.

The results posted by Gallup are not too surprising to those like me who hold a religious background, yet reading these results made me reflect upon my own religious past, present and future.

Born and raised as a Roman Catholic, I grew up attending church every Sunday and gaining extra religious education through Sunday school classes. Dinners on Sunday night in the McClung household focused on the priest’s sermon and whether or not his lessons resonated within us.

Members of my church and family who professed themselves to be more religious than others did often display a pleasant disposition and welcoming nature. Religions often preach love towards oneself and one’s neighbor, and those who I’ve met who are the most religious display this love openly.
However, I do not consider those whom I have met that consider themselves atheist or agnostic to be less happy or healthy. I feel as though college campuses hold a fair amount of both the very religious and the nonreligious or atheist, and I have met happy and physically fit people who are atheist or devoutly religious.

And as I have grown older, I have found I am growing apart from my faith.

Now, although I would never admit this to my devoutly Catholic Italian family, I do not believe it has caused my emotional or physical wellbeing to decline. Many of my peers mirror my feelings of a growing distance between ourselves and the religious values we used to hold. I am not atheist nor agnostic, I am just not as devoutly Catholic as I once was.

I have a feeling my religious values will return as I grow older, raise a family of my own and desire to instill the values my parents taught me to my own children. Until then, I’ll remain a confirmed member of the Catholic Church and attempt to uphold my emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The State News.

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