And perhaps I should tie that together with defining "religion". Generally speaking religious participation is a positive determinant of health. For instance, this article from the MJA (Medical Journal of Aust.) notes that in addition to social contact that religion generally promotes values that are lacking in a secular society.
And you can see some of the effects such as classism have on society. The classist nature of British society even today is too much for some people to handle, I found it interesting when Christopher Eccleston talked about why he didn't continue as Doctor Who a few years ago, saying that he didn't like the "us and them" classist culture. He was the type of person who felt everyone had an equal contribution to the team; whereas others (like Russell T Davies) thought that they were better than the working class that comes in, builds the sets and does all the manual labour. I imagine that Sir Sean Connery would agree with him - he too came from the working class.
This effect even requires laws to combat it. For instance, in Australia we have legislation in place that makes it illegal for a practising lawyer to accept a client. Doesn't matter if you murdered the lawyer's son and you want him to defend you in court, he cannot legally refuse to represent you.
Scientology claims it is truth and that people require it to free their minds; yet at the same time it expels people who breach certain codes. It is opposed to psychiatry, and it doesn't embody any of the principles that it seems brings the public health benefits. Their methodology leads to victim-blaming, which is not the direction we want to go. "The poor only have themselves to blame for their situation". "The sick only have themselves to blame".
Scientology tries to keep Xenu a secret from all members who are OT2 and below. Court documents from a number of cases prove that Xenu forms a part of their belief; but they deny this in public. All the scientologists that Sweeney talked to for his documentary back in 2007 that were OT3 or above and would know about Xenu denied it. There is no other religion in the world that hides part of its "sacred texts" from ordinary members.
And you can see some of the effects such as classism have on society. The classist nature of British society even today is too much for some people to handle, I found it interesting when Christopher Eccleston talked about why he didn't continue as Doctor Who a few years ago, saying that he didn't like the "us and them" classist culture. He was the type of person who felt everyone had an equal contribution to the team; whereas others (like Russell T Davies) thought that they were better than the working class that comes in, builds the sets and does all the manual labour. I imagine that Sir Sean Connery would agree with him - he too came from the working class.
This effect even requires laws to combat it. For instance, in Australia we have legislation in place that makes it illegal for a practising lawyer to accept a client. Doesn't matter if you murdered the lawyer's son and you want him to defend you in court, he cannot legally refuse to represent you.
Scientology claims it is truth and that people require it to free their minds; yet at the same time it expels people who breach certain codes. It is opposed to psychiatry, and it doesn't embody any of the principles that it seems brings the public health benefits. Their methodology leads to victim-blaming, which is not the direction we want to go. "The poor only have themselves to blame for their situation". "The sick only have themselves to blame".
Scientology tries to keep Xenu a secret from all members who are OT2 and below. Court documents from a number of cases prove that Xenu forms a part of their belief; but they deny this in public. All the scientologists that Sweeney talked to for his documentary back in 2007 that were OT3 or above and would know about Xenu denied it. There is no other religion in the world that hides part of its "sacred texts" from ordinary members.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK
"That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke
