Are Atheists Fatter Than Believers?

Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett in Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

There is an interesting article on Conservapedia (“The Trustworthy Encylopedia”) called “Atheism and obesity“. that argues that people of faith are fitter and healthier than non-believers.

Their main argument is based on research by Gallup which concluded that “Very religious Americans are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are moderately religious or nonreligious.” The data appears to agree with this statement, although there is not a huge difference between the habits of non-religious and religious people.

Gallup research table of results
Gallup research – Very Religious Americans Lead Healthier Lives – WELL-BEING – December 23 2010

The Conservopedia article then goes on to attack every overweight atheist that it can find, and fails to mention any overweight religious people.


The Internet makes atheists fat

Some of their arguments seem very far-fetched, for example, there is a section on “Internet atheism and obesity” (I was not aware that such a thing even existed) that claims that “As a result of the challenges that atheists commonly have in terms of socializing in person, many atheists turn to the internet in terms of communicating with other atheists.”

Their argument here is that this use of the Internet is making atheists fat. Considering that one of the largest Internet forums in the world is the Catholic.com forum, this does appear to be total nonsense. I am not even sure what they mean by the socializing challenges that atheists have – I have never met an atheist who found it hard to socialize.

They cite an Australian study that connects Internet use with obesity but it does seem a leap of faith to assume that atheists use the Internet more and are fat because of this.

Christians spread health all over the world

They then talk about the growth of Christianity outside of the West and the health benefits this is bringing people; they even mention Christians in China.

But they fail to mention that China is facing an obesity problem that is being driven by the arrival of Western fast food chains – China was much healthier (when not starving) before the arrival of Western Christian food influences.

Atheism and medicine


Possibly their craziest argument is that favoring modern medicine, something atheists do apparently, is another major problem.

“Atheist often champion mainstream medicine and disparage osteopathy, integrative medicine, chiropractic healthcare and other alternative medicine approaches. Yet despite medical science having an vast amount of evidence pointing out the many health risks of excess weight and medical science, exercise science, and nutritional science having many effective measures to lose weight, there are a significant number of Western World atheists who are obese or have excess weight.”

I think they are arguing that modern medicine is responsible for making people fat, but to be honest, I am not entirely sure what their argument is here. They do fail to mention that modern medicine has introduced medical procedures to help people lose weight – a bit careless of them to miss this out.

Of course, shunning quack medicine and snake oil is apparently not as dangerous to your waistline as not getting married!

“… obese male atheists may find it more difficult to find prospective female partners for marriage. And of course, militant atheism might make matters even more difficult.”

The argument here is that women do not find atheists very attractive (do they not realize that some women are atheists too? – yes they do, they attack them later on). Either way, they argue that getting married helps keep you slim. Strange, because the opposite is usually the case – people get married and let themselves go!

There is much more madness in the article. A claim that “atheists reject: objective beauty” – huh? Since when did an atheist not appreciate beauty? Henri Matisse will probably argue with this, if he were not dead. They also go on to argue that atheists in general do not care about their bodies, because of something to do with The Creation of Adam.

Stephen Fry

They use Stephen Fry as the cornerstone of their argument (partly because he is gay too I suppose). I cannot paraphrase what they say, it is too sickening to contemplate putting it in my own words, so here is the whole lot:

“The atheist Stephen Fry is a English screenwriter, author, playwright, comedian, and film director.

A picture of an overweight Stephen Fry can be found HERE and HERE In 2009, the Mail Online reported that Stephen Fry went from being “appallingly corpulent” to having a weight where he can “at last bear to look at himself in the mirror again”. However, in March of 2011, Stephen Fry appeared to be once again overweight.

Also, in a January 30, 2012 interview with Charlie Rose, Mr. Fry also had excess weight. In his interview with Charlie Rose, Mr. Fry said that as a young man he hated exercise and sports. Besides being an atheist, Mr. Fry is a homosexual. Traditionally, players in male core sports teams (e.g., football, baseball, basketball,and/or soccer) are more likely to have unfavorable views of homosexuality.”


They seem to think that Stephen Fry is overweight because he is an atheist and gay gentlemen who was never fond of sport. No mention of his lifelong battle with depression and addiction. Anybody who has taken any real interest in Stephen Fry will understand that he has been battling addiction, of which food is just one vice, for all of his life.

They also pick on Penn Jillette, a group of writers called the “Skepchick writers” (mostly women who right about science),  Steve Wozniak, Isaac Asimov, Kim Jong-un (an ” overweight atheist communist dictator”), Dara Ó Briain, Beth Ditto and a bunch of other random overweight atheists.

They somehow forgot to share any names or photos of overweight priests and vicars. We do need to be careful not to lower ourselves to the depths that the Conservapia group have done in attacking random, overweight atheists to try to prove a point. But, a few photos do not hurt. Here are a few photos of overweight preachers, priests and other religious leaders that somebody made earlier:

Proverbs 23-2
Proverbs 23-2

This is a photo of  Chris Christie, a politician who is a Roman Catholic. How can he possibly be overweight? Here are some more photos that they forgot to add:

5th deadly sin


pregnancy is gods blessingFat Danny Jenky

 

 

T
This photo of a gathering of Baptist church leaders that took place in the Aegean province of İzmir in July 2014 certainly shows that being a Baptist does not automatically make you want to be slim and fit.

Baptist church leaders from 120 countries gather in İzmir for congress

If you can be bothered to search you will find more overweight religious people. It goes without saying really. As for fat atheists, there are many who are far from being overweight: Keira Knightley, Jodie Foster, Brad Pitt, Woody Allen, Daniel Radcliffe, Chris Kluwe (Football player), Bruce Lee, and Lance “If there was a God, I’d still have both nuts” Armstrong.

As Buddy Hacket, the Jewish comedian pictured at the start of the article, probably never actually said, “Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”. And that Conservapedia piece was a stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, article. Mind you, they are right in that “some godless people have difficulty resisting the sins / temptations of gluttony and sloth.” But that rule seems to happily extend far beyond atheism, in fact, it has nothing to do with faith. Hey ho.

God bless you, live long and prosper, and may the farce be with you.

References

Gallup: Very Religious Americans Lead Healthier Lives by Frank Newport, Sangeeta Agrawal, and Dan Witters, accessed October 27, 2014

19 Famous Athletes Who Are Atheist – Ranker.com, accessed October 27, 2014

26 Comments on “Are Atheists Fatter Than Believers?”

  1. Thanks for the input as far as the Conservapedia atheism and obesity article.

    This section https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Atheism_and_some_causes_of_obesity now mentions that atheists have a higher suicide rate than the general population since depression is a causal factor for obesity. In addition, the irreligion and domestic violence article was given since studies show that religious people have lower rates of domestic violence and due to the fact that anger is a causal factor for obesity.

    In addition, we added a bit of clarification on atheists socializing with each other to a lessor degree than theists and having a resultant higher internet usage. See: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Internet_atheism_and_obesity But even before that we cited PZ Myers and another atheist about this matter in this section. But thanks for the input as this section has been expanded.

    Next, we added a picture relating to African Christianity as a result of your input as can be seen at: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Rapid_growth_of_global_Christianity_and_the_health_habits_of_Christendom

    Next, there must have been some reason why you didn’t mention the studies showing that religion increases self-control. What was your reason?

    Also, why didn’t you mention the data about atheists/theists and sports given here: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Sports_involvement:_Religious_faith_vs._atheism

    After all is said and done, you left out a lot of the data supporting the article.

  2. MotleyHealth says:

    Hi M. Goodson,

    Yes, I did not include the entire article, but I did link to it so readers can learn more if they wish.

    Why does the article fail to mention anything about the many athletes who are atheists? And why does it also fail to address the reason why many people in the clergy are very overweight?

    The imperical data does not add up. According to the ABCNEWS/Beliefnet poll only 13% of Americans say that they are not religious.

    According to the CDC, 69% of American adults are overweight or obese.

    The argument set out on Conservapedia ignores the most important facts out there: America is mostly a religious country and also mostly overweight.

    Obesity is caused by a combination of social issues, environment (incl. aggressive advertising) and the abundance of food.

    None of the research presented in Conservapedia proved a causal relationship between atheism and obesity.

  3. M. Goodson says:

    Until you address my relevant comments that I posted, I don’t see any point in moving forward. You not addressing them tells me that you are not acting in good faith and engaging in the fallacy of exclusion (see: fallacy of exclusion: ).

    In short, you are being stubborn and/or illogical.

    Let me know if you are ready to act in good faith and address the studies on religion and self-control and the other matters that I brought up.

  4. MotleyHealth says:

    I shall address your comments if you address mine.

    Religion and self-control – I honestly have no reason to dispute this. However, the fact that religion can help people with self-control does not mean that non-religious methods, such as meditation, neuro-linguistic programming or hypnosis are ineffective methods.

    Suicide rates – this is a positive aspect of religion, although as HSCCS points out, “Many of the studies of the relationship between religion and suicide have been too small, contradictory, or flawed to make overall conclusions”. One key conclusion published in the Am J Psychiatry was that “it was found that greater moral objections to suicide and lower aggression level in religiously affiliated subjects may function as protective factors against suicide attempts” – the fear of going to hell may deter a person from committing suicide; this does not actually mean that they are happy, just less likely to take their own life.

    Regarding sports, you say that “Numerous studies report athletes to be more religious than nonathletes”. 87% of the American population is religious – it stands to reason more people playing sport and watching sport will be religious. As I pointed out (and you ignored) there are many excellent athletes who are atheists. Jonathan Edwards, the Olympic, European and World champion triple jumper, did not require God to lift him over the sand. And Bruce Lee was rather impressive for an atheist too.

    I look forward to your explanation of why the statistics suggest that religious Americans are accountable for a vast number of the overweight in America. If America was 87% atheist the article would make more sense, this is a country where 13% of the population is atheist and 69% is overweight. Please explain why this is so.

  5. The percentage differences between religious and non-religious is so small as to be trivial. Sure it’s statistically significant, but the sample size is HUGE. This does not imply any practical health differences.

    The article appears to contain a lot of cherry-picked information, rather than any useful summary of facts. There are studies showing that atheists tend to have a higher level of education than the religious. Education correlates with both health and longevity. Is that in the article?

  6. There are a lot of things in the Conservapedia article and the post that I won’t address, except to note that remarking on individuals just isn’t very informative. There is something interesting in the Gallup chart, but I don’t think it can be taken as an argument for religion; is it a serious suggestion that someone believe in something they other wise wouldn’t in order to gain some health benefits? I don’t think people work that way.

    I only want to talk about the Gallup chart. The first question I usually ask is, is there any reason to doubt the interpretation? The sample size in the poll is pretty big: something like 500,000 adults in a random-dialing phone survey. I’m not sure if the number is before of after refusals are removed. Gallup gives a 95% margin of error of about 0.5%, which is actually larger than I calculated by hand for this sample. Maybe I made a mistake, but it doesn’t matter; the sampling error does not explain the differences.

    Next is, is there something about the survey that might add bias? For example, do atheists refuse at a different rate that the other groups? do obese religous people not respond as frequently? Here’s a seed of doubt for me: religion and obesity may be correlated with something that makes them more likely to refuse. I can certainly think of scenarios that match up with popular stereotypes that would fit this, but I can’t tell how true they are. There may be more research out there. This could be a pretty deep subject. I see that they did use a linear model to control for some thing like income and other demographic variables. I think those details could be important and someone who is serious about using these results should look at them.

    An example scenario: consider immigrants, who (I think) are more religious that native-born US people. they may bring with them habits from their home country, including a diet with a lot of vegetables and jobs with a lot of exercise. How much of an effect does this have? I sure don’t know. They have controls for ethnic groups, but
    it’s not clear to me how effective they are.

    I apologize for my cursory reading of the articles. If I missed something important, that’s why.

  7. Tomato Addict says:

    @Robin: Gallup will be using something more sophisticated than simple random sampling. That and the use of linear models would explain the smaller than expected confidence bounds. Gallup appears to have done their job properly.

    The real flaw is the lack of any connection between health habits and health outcomes. Most habits generally have a relatively small health effects. Those habits with strong effects kill people too quickly for them to be very prevalent. This small effect, combined with a tiny difference between religious and non-religious, makes religious faith a poor predictor of health and longevity outcomes.

  8. m goodson says:

    [Edited to remove lengthy pieces of text copied from other websites]

    A few points:

    1. I covered global Christianity and American Christianity here: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Rapid_growth_of_global_Christianity_and_the_health_habits_of_Christendom

    I also covered it at the beginning of the article. For example, the very large study which indicated: According to the Gallup Inc., “Very religious Americans are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are moderately religious or nonreligious.”[3]

    2. Your atheist athletes is anecdotal. I prefer using studies and thus I cited a relevant one which indicated here.

    Religion can be an important aspect in athletes’ lives and may serve a protective function against psychological distress and maladaptive behaviors such as substance use or aggression (Storch, Roberti, Bravata, & Storch, 2004).

    Viewers of sporting events can frequently observe athletes pointing to the sky, engaging in team prayer on the court or field, and glorifying God following athletic competitions.

  9. m goodson says:

    [Edited to remove text copied from other websites, links to that content added]

    A few points:

    1. I covered global Christianity/American Christianity in this section: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Rapid_growth_of_global_Christianity_and_the_health_habits_of_Christendom

    You asking me address it again, tells me that you may have not read the article carefully before critiquing it.

    Please address the information about global Christianity and the percentage of Christians who live in the Western World.

    For example. take a look at the caption below the picture which declares:

    African Christians clapping at an open air meeting. In 2005, there were four times as many non-Western World Christians as there were Western World Christians. https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_hedonism

    The traditional African diet is healthier than many Western World invividuals’ diets and Africa has some of the lowest obesity rates in the world.

    The article has this captioned information as well plus it expands on it.

    2. Anecdotal evidence about a handful of atheist athletes is not impressive. That Is why I cited this information:

    An excerpt from the abstract of the journal article Strength of Religious Faith of Athletes and Nonathletes at Two NCAA Division III Institutions declares:
    “Numerous studies report athletes to be more religious than nonathletes (Fischer, 1997; Storch, Kolsky, Silvestri, & Storch, 2001; Storch et al., 2004).

    According to Storch, Kolsky, Silvestri, and Storch (2001), four reasons may explain why religion interacts with athletic performance. First, athletes may identify with religious beliefs for direction and humility.

    Second, athletes may turn to religion to gain a sense of optimism and security, benefiting from such beliefs following a disappointing athletic performance.

    Third, religion can be used for emotional and psychological support in stressful circumstances like the uncertainty of athletic competition, which can cause athletes an overwhelming amount of anxiety. Religious beliefs can offer the internal strength to persevere through the stress.

    Fourth, religion “provides a cognitive framework conducive to the relief of anxiety associated with competition” (Storch et al., 2001, p. 347). This framework allows relief from fear and anxiety on the basis of the athlete’s understanding (i.e., belief) that a supreme being is in complete control of the situation. For example, athletes may rely on religious faith to place a poor athletic performance in perspective…

    Religion can be an important aspect in athletes’ lives and may serve a protective function against psychological distress and maladaptive behaviors such as substance use or aggression (Storch, Roberti, Bravata, & Storch, 2004). Viewers of sporting events can frequently observe athletes pointing to the sky, engaging in team prayer on the court or field, and glorifying God following athletic competitions.[3]

    3. Very religious and active religious people are mentally and physically healthier.

    I cited this information:

    There is considerable amount of scientific evidence that suggest that theism is more conducive to mental and physical health than atheism (For more information, please see: Atheism and health and Psychology, obesity, religiosity and atheism).

    The prestigious Mayo Clinic reported the following on December 11, 2001:
    “The authors report a majority of the nearly 350 studies of physical health and 850 studies of mental health that have used religious and spiritual variables have found that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcomes.”

    The Iona Institute reported:
    “Active religious involvement increased the chance of living longer by some 29%, and participation in public religious practices, such as church attendance, increased the chance of living longer by 43%.”

    In addition,

    I just added this information to the article:

    In December of 2003, the University of Warwick reported:
    “Dr. Stephen Joseph, from the University of Warwick, said: “Religious people seem to have a greater purpose in life, which is why they are happier. Looking at the research evidence, it seems that those who celebrate the Christian meaning of Christmas are on the whole likely to be happier.”

    After all is said and done, I gave a lot of information buttressing my case. And your sloppiness in reviewing/critiquing the article was not impressive.

  10. m goodson says:

    [Edited to remove large blocks of copied content. Links added.]

    I would also suggest, you look at the resources I cited about atheism and emotional/social intelligence.

    For example, I cited this information:

    On January 1, 2011, CNN reported:

    “People unaffiliated with organized religion, atheists and agnostics also report anger toward God either in the past, or anger focused on a hypothetical image – that is, what they imagined God might be like – said lead study author Julie Exline, Case Western Reserve University psychologist.

    In studies on college students, atheists and agnostics reported more anger at God during their lifetimes than believers.”

    Various studies found that traumatic events in people’s lives has a positive correlation with “emotional atheism”.

    The atheist and lesbian Greta Christina told the journalist Chris Mooney on the Point of Inquiry podcast, “there isn’t one emotion” that affects atheists “but anger is one of the emotions that many of us have …[it] drives others to participate in the movement”.

    For more information please see: Atheism and anger at: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_anger

    Also, atheism and social intelligence at: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_interpersonal_intelligence

    Jacques Rousseau wrote in the Daily Maverick: “Elevatorgate has resulted in three weeks of infighting in the secular community. Some might observe that we indulge in these squabbles fairly frequently.” See: Atheist factions and Atheism and anger

    The prominent atheist Dr. Sam Harris has said concerning the label of atheist, “It’s right next to child molester as a designation.”

  11. MotleyHealth says:

    I think you got a bit carried away with copy & paste there.

    I do not have time to go through every point (you posted over 3200 words! [Edit – I have had to edit down your comments by removing much of the copy&paste that you did, please only write comments from now on, do not paste entire pages from other sites, this is against web quality guidelines].

    You posted a lot of information about anger and leadership which is not relevant to the current discussion, so that was removed. Also some rather offensive comments were removed as this is a public forum that is read by people of all ages.

    But, one thing you said prompt me to reply (even though you are still refusing to answer my question):

    “Africa has some of the lowest obesity rates in the world”.

    Do you really think that Africans are on the whole a healthy weight because of the arrival of a Christian church? And did you not see the headline in September 2014: “Obesity: Africa’s new crisis“. Africa was healthy, but then the church arrived and it is becoming more obese. Please explain.

    That is two questions you now need to answer. Please do not post another 3200 words copied from other websites. Please just answer two questions. Until you address my relevant comments that I posted, I don’t see any point in moving forward.

    “athletes may” – you said “may” five times in your argument. So the data is inconclusive? You should not build an argument based on things that may be.

    “Your atheist athletes is anecdotal.” – You used the wonderful Stephen Fry to argue your point. You use comedians, I use athletes….

    In the study that found that religious people are healthier, how much healthier are they? From what I have read this appears to be a fine line, not a case of super-athlete versus and obese alcoholic, but something more subtle.

    “Viewers of sporting events can frequently observe athletes pointing to the sky, engaging in team prayer on the court or field, and glorifying God following athletic competitions” – yes, because in a country where 87% of the population is religious, you will find a lot of religious people watching and playing sport (around 87% in fact).

    We are sure of this: America is 87% religious, 69% overweight or obese. But you still have not answered my question which is why America has so many overweight people if it is such a religious country. Earlier you accused me of not answering your questions but you seem intent on ignoring what is the most important statistic in this argument.

    You are certainly very passionate about this though, are you doing anything constructive to try to address the fact that people with and without faith are on the whole not living healthy lives? At the moment, all over the world, religion seems to be largely about attacking people of alternative belief. Maybe it is time to change and do something positive.

  12. m goodson says:

    Dear Mr. Wade,

    The reason why I copied and pasted is that I believe you engaged in the fallacy of exclusion in your critique and having the text posted would cause you to be more apt to address the material.

    Nevertheless, atheists is a causal factor for lower emotional/social intelligence and lower physical and mental health as can be seen via these resources which cite several studies (and lower emotional/social intelligence is a causal factor for obesity):

    https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Irreligion_and_domestic_violence

    https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_interpersonal_intelligence

    https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_emotional/intrapersonal_intelligence

    https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_anger

    Second, I did answer the question about Atheism and obesity. It is clearly answered in this section https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Rapid_growth_of_global_Christianity_and_the_health_habits_of_Christendom but for some reason, you don’t want to respond to this material.

    In addition, I cited this information concerning America: According to the Gallup Inc., “Very religious Americans are more likely to practice healthy behaviors than those who are moderately religious or nonreligious.”[3]

    Lastly, you wrote that you do not have time to address the 3,200 words I posted which were taken from the article. If you don’t have time to adequately critique the article in a responsible way, you shouldn’t have critiqued it.

  13. m goodson says:

    I also wanted to respond to this comment of yours:

    You wrote:

    “At the moment, all over the world, religion seems to be largely about attacking people of alternative belief. Maybe it is time to change and do something positive.”

    Mr. Wade, in the country that you live in, can you name me one atheist orphanage or atheist hospital that has been built? Also, in the USA theists give significantly more to charity per capita than atheists

    Second, I am sorry to hear that you feel that you are being attacked by me conveying to you relevant data and for my critiquing your poorly done critique. It seems to me that you want to evade responsibility for your poor critique.

  14. MotleyHealth says:

    The fallacy of exclusion works both ways. Your article ignores the fact that a majority of Americans are both religious and overweight. Your article/s also claim that Christianity brings health to other nations and cites Africa as an example – a nation that was thin BEFORE Christianity arrived and is now starting to suffer an obesity problem.

    As for the content – I had already read the whole article and linked to it at the very top of this page, there really is no need to keep pasting parts here. I addressed it in my article above, again, no need to readdress it in the comments.

    As for those new links you posted, they seem to just say the same thing, over and over. Some make no sense. Why do you keep going on about atheism and anger? How is this related to obesity – the two examples on that article appear to be in OK shape?

    I did not address what you said about global Christianity because I honestly cannot see where this is going. What does this have to do with the fact that American Christians are fat? Twice you quoted the part about Africans clapping hands at a meeting (I deleted one) – why? How is clapping related to weight?

  15. MotleyHealth says:

    “I am sorry to hear that you feel that you are being attacked by me” – I never said I was being attacked by you, you misunderstand me. I was referring to all the war and hatred in the world, not this conversation.

  16. MotleyHealth says:

    Does it not worry you that the global growth in Christianity correlates perfectly with the global growth in obesity?

  17. MotleyHealth says:

    One secular orphanage: Help to Orphans International

    One secular hospital: Broomfield Hospital (this also applies to every NHS hospital in the UK, even the ones that were historically linked with the church).

  18. Ken, still quote-mining after all these years? You’ve become famous since we last met: rationalwiki.org/wiki/Conservapedia:Conservative
    ‘s_Laws

    I suggest you go back to promoting YEC-ism, it makes you look slightly less crazy than all this nonsense you post on Conservapedia.

    Your fundamental claim (in this instance) is that atheists are more likely to be overweight or obese than Christians. It’s patently nonsense, but even if it were true: *so what*? If, hypothetically speaking, freedom from belief in any vengeful deities led to an increase in Body Mass Index, what relevance would that have to the question of whether or not any deity – let alone yours – actually exists?

    All you’re doing with this and similar articles is ad hominem attack on atheists. And a pretty childish attack at that. How many Christian converts do you hope to gain this way?

  19. m goodson says:

    One of your biggest problems in critiquing this article is your slothfulness. For example, you say what does anger have to do with obesity.

    The medical science literature does indicate that anger is a causal factor for obesity and if you actually read the Conservapedia article in question carefully before critiquing it, you would know that. The article says: “In addition, many people overeat in response to negative emotions such as depression, anger, anxiety and boredom”. And the article also gives this citation from PUBMED about anger/obesity: (link dead) and gives this citation as well http://www.obesitypsychiatry.com/id2.html Furthermore, it gives the article gives this information about atheism and anger https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_anger and this information about atheists being quarrelsome and socially challenged to a greater degree than the general public: https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_interpersonal_intelligence

    I also gave this information relative to American obesity, American Christian obesity and global Christianity https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Atheism_and_obesity#Rapid_growth_of_global_Christianity_and_the_health_habits_of_Christendom but you refuse to respond to this information. I gave you this information twice previously. I cannot help you if you are not willing to help yourself by taking advantage of this information and responding to this information.

    Next, your claim that UK public hospitals are somehow atheist hospitals is an act of desperation. For example, UK public hospitals list chaplains as a career path https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/wider-healthcare-team/roles-wider-healthcare-team/corporate-services/chaplain Why not just be forthright and simply say that the country you reside in has no atheist hospitals.

    I tried to have a rational discussion with you about your poorly done critique, but I see that is not possible due to you not wanting behave in a responsible manner.

    To: Dan

    There is no such thing as an ad hominem attack against a group of people. I suggest become more familiar with the various types of logical fallacies and logic in general.

    By the way, what proof and evidence do you have that atheism is true? Unlike atheism, Christianity has a vast abundance of evidence to supporting it. See:

  20. m goodson says:

    I wanted to clarify a matter further and also add this information about NHS paid chaplains:

    “The vast majority are Anglicans, while others are from the Roman Catholic, Free churches or World Faiths. They are recruited in proportion to the belief patterns of the local population.” see: https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/wider-healthcare-team/roles-wider-healthcare-team/corporate-services/chaplain

    Next, I did not ask you for secular hospitals in your country. I asked you for the name of one atheist hospital in your country. We know that there are numerous Christian hospitals in America and the Western World.

    Why not just say that I know of no atheist hospitals in my country? Is the reason you do not admit this is because you are too prideful? The atheist community is well-known for having pride/arrogance issues.

  21. MotleyHealth says:

    You are right, I am so slothful. I apologise for my tardiness in reading and responding to all your questions, and persisting in trying to get you to answer mine (which you are still refusing to do).

    I do not deny that there is a link between anger and other emotional states with weight gain, but not everybody who gets angry and stressed gains weight. Many people actually eat less, so become thinner. Also, anger is a natural emotion that can be managed. After spending many years training in martial arts gyms I witnessed how anger can be harnessed and managed to make a person stronger, more balanced, fitter and happier. Anger does not always lead to the dark side. Atheism + Anger does not equal Obesity.

    As for NHS hospitals, of course they have chapels. These chapels are open to all faiths and those with no faith, and they are obviously staffed. But lets be crystal clear here – the chapel is a small part of the hospital that is provided for those who wish to use it. The Chaplains are there to speak with patients and staff. They are wonderful places within our hospitals and a great asset, but they have no authority or say in what happens outside their walls. My local hospital also as a coffee shop – this does not mean that coffee shops run hospitals.

    Similarly, the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City also has a chapel. Does this mean it is run by the church?

    Let’s also be clear on one really important fact: there is no atheist community. I specifically said secular because that is the correct word. There is no band of atheists, the only people who think that we all stand together in some sort of united front are apologetics such as yourself.

    Asking me to give examples of atheist hospitals makes no more sense than asking for examples of atheist bus stations, atheist restaurants or atheist gyms. It is only religious groups that feel the need to set up their own establishments.

    “what proof and evidence do you have that atheism is true?” – Now I am starting to think that this is a wind up. Did you really just ask that? Mindboggling. I was trying to be polite, but since you have claimed that I cannot “behave in a responsible manner”, called me slothful and incapable of rational discussion, it is clear you are not interested in actually having a discussion, you just want to use this as a channel to promote your own wacky views on the world.

    New rule on MotleyHealth. No more comments from bigots, homophobes and generally rude people.

    This is the end of the discussion. So sorry, you will never have the chance now to explain how 69% of a mostly Christian country became overweight or obese. You had your chance and you just blew it!

  22. Wayne Smith says:

    The reverse is true according to research just published yesterday. Sorry to burst the Christian bubble. Add that to research showing atheists are more honest and intelligent. Makes you wonder why Christians bother lying. Science isn’t their strong point.

    Christians are more likely to be fat than atheists.
    https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/christians-are-more-likely-be-fat-atheists-1480732

  23. MotleyHealth says:

    Thanks for sharing that Wayne, I missed that piece of research. It comes out of Coventry University too, a very fine university!

  24. Reviewing the history of atheism over the last hundred years its quite clear atheists have a problem with acquiring food, generally. Need only look at modern atheist nations: the USSR, the PRC, the DPRK, Cambodia under Atheist rule.. etc. There is no way the average atheist is larger than any religious person. Its statistically impossible. Cf. the Holodomor, Starvation in communism & N. Korea’s persistent food problems.

  25. MotleyHealth says:

    Jon, those issues you mention are political, not religious.

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