What’s God Gotta Do with It?

Abstract:

What does it mean to be an atheist, and how does our understanding of that impact our experience of life and perceived health? Definitions of philosophical positions are pivotal, possessing the power to radically change how we interpret data and even begin to posit coherent questions. Discover more about connections between a disbelief in God and self-rated health, or said connections’ absence, by investigating Dr. Speed’s study on the relationship between atheists and their experience of religiosity.

About the Author: Dr. David Speed

Dr. David Speed an Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick in the Department of Psychology. His research focuses on challenging the commonly held belief that religion and spirituality inherently lead to better health outcomes. While numerous studies suggest that religious attendance, prayer, and religiosity are correlated with improved health outcomes, there are significant gaps and inaccuracies in the existing literature.

Through his research, Dr. David Speed highlights the lack of confirmatory evidence that being nonreligious is detrimental to health. His work indicates that atheists do not necessarily fare worse than believers, suggesting that the health benefits attributed to religion and spirituality are overstated. Dr. Speed’s research critiques the prevailing assumptions in the field and addresses the complexities of studying the growing nonreligious population.