Guest Articles >> Religion

Who Lives Longer: Christians or Atheists?

One question that tends to pop up every once in a while during debates between Christians and Atheists is “who lives longer: Christians or Atheists?” While there’s no guarantee that finding Jesus will automatically lengthen your lifespan, there are several studies that have proposed that religious people, such as Christians, tend to live longer than atheists and those who are not actively involved in religion.

There are several theories as to why Christians tend to live longer than atheists. For example, some studies propose that people who regularly go to church, pray or study the Bible are less likely to have high blood pressure that than who do not. This makes a lot of sense, because all of these activities tend to promote meditation and relaxation, and are excellent ways to relieve stress. Having enough faith to put your life into the hands of a higher power can be a freeing experience that allows you to relax and take what God gives you. At the end of the day, the less stress you experience, the less likely you are to suffer stress related physical ailments, which may in turn bring on an earlier death.

Another reason why being Christian may help you live longer is that Christians tend to be very conservative when dealing with issues in modern day society that can cause serious and sometimes life threatening problems. For example, atheists may not be thrilled with drug or alcohol use, but non religious people definitely tend to have a more relaxed attitude towards those using drugs, especially if they do so in a way that is deemed “responsible,” such as only smoking pot or drinking beer in moderation. Christians, on the other hand, are far less willing to put up with any sort of drug or alcohol use whatsoever, which hopefully discourages people to cut down on drinking and doing drugs long before they develop serious medical problems such as cirrhosis or brain damage.

One thing that helps influence the length of your life span is having meaningful and healthy relationships. The idea is that people who are involved in relationships that make them happy tend to be healthier. Being part of a close knit and supportive religious community definitely helps relationships. If something goes wrong, you can turn to someone. This is not to say that atheists don’t belong to close-knit communities - only that Christians are more likely to belong to such groups.

Christian values such as forgiveness and feeling that life has an inherent purpose can also contribute to lifespan. Being a forgiving person can help lower your stress levels, while knowing your purpose in life can be very reassuring psychologically. People who don’t know what they’ve living for and who aimlessly drift around in life trying to figure out what to do with themselves are probably not as psychologically stable as Christians who have it all figured out – and psychological health definitely plays a role in living longer. Atheists can definitely have long and fulfilling lives, but Christians definitely have more ways to help them achieve this goal.

About the Author

This blog post was authored by Tom Medalla from the term life insurance website LifeCover.ca: a provider of life insurance quotes in Canada.

Disclaimer:

The above guest post is published on this website based on the premise that it will be helpful and informative. The opinions made within it are those of the author and not of sunnyray.org. The links you may find within this post do not necessarily imply our recommendation or endorsement of the views expressed within them.

Comments:

dustin says:
12-18-2012

what christians like to do is say things and not cite anything

sunnyray says:
12-19-2012

Thanks for your comment Dustin, but I am not sure exactly what you meant by that.

jordan says:
09-01-2013

He meant he is calling you a Christian who is just saying things without evidence to back it up.

sunnyray says:
09-03-2013

Hi jordan,
Thanks for your clarification, but I don't see exactly how all that relates to the topic of this guest post, which has to do with the longevity of groups of people with certain belief patterns.

megan says:
09-18-2013

I think what Jordan and Dustin are trying to say is, when making such statements as, "non religious people definitely tend to have a more relaxed attitude towards those using drugs, especially if they do so in a way that is deemed responsible, such as only smoking pot or drinking beer in moderation" or "some studies propose that people who regularly go to church, pray or study the Bible are less likely to have high blood pressure that than who do not", one should back up their comments with support. Where can we find these "studies"?

sunnyray says:
09-18-2013

Hi megan,
Thanks for the clarification. I agree with you that Tom should have provided references to the cited studies, especially when making such strong statements.

Nick says:
11-30-2013

This is mainly to Dustin, but I'm sorry, a year late. Deut.6:2 "That thou mightiest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all His statutes and commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thou son's son, all thy days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged." I'm citing the bible and what God promises to do to those who believe and obey him. I just read another study on single men tend to die younger then married men. There's other studies showed married couples do better then singles in a large range of things like economics, raising children, etc. If Dustin wants proof, all he has to do is search for it using his computer. I have a book called "Facts in the Bible" and there are many. Look up what Flavius Josephus had to say about Jesus and other biblical people. Flavius was a 1st century historian.

sunnyray says:
11-30-2013

Thanks Nick, for your thoughts. They are very much appreciated.

Jason Biggs says:
01-14-2014

Nick: I challenge you to provide one or any reference study to any claim that Christians live longer than atheists.

vegan minstrel says:
06-07-2014

There are some studies revealing the longevity of 7th Day Adventists but that's due mostly to their meatless diet.

Aaron says:
10-15-2014

What matters isn't who lives longer before death, but who lives at all after death.

Just me says:
11-04-2014

Lets see? I've known "Christians" and "Atheist". Both have imbibed in drugs, alcohol and committed incest and other sexual abuse! Reference the Catholic church in recent years and then try to cover it up or "lie about it" if you prefer. They live their lives just as long as anyone else unless they land in the pokey for sexual abuse. But I don't think that God had anything to do with that, although God must be in the jails!
Just ask any lifer or someone who has receive a long sentence. They found God in prison and was reborn again! So now they want paroled or their sentence commuted. One thing we do know for a fact. Atheist exist. We can see them most anytime! When is the last time you saw God and he talked to you?

thomas says:
02-17-2015

Nick it is not the job of the reader, but the writer to provide proof to back up statements with proven facts. One is not making a strong case, or even a case at all, without proven fact backing any statement. And Aaron, i challenge you to provide a grain of proven factual truth that there is life after death, which is not entirely faith based. (I.E. not proven, or factual)

aka says:
08-05-2015

It doesn't matter if you are Christian or atheist on the outside. What matters is how you are inside... what your thoughts and emotions are. That's what determines your destiny, duration and more importantly quality of life. And even if you don't live too long, if you have noble thoughts and positive emotions, the quality of your life will be much better and you will achieve more, much more.

Advocate says:
08-05-2015

THE WORD is out prayer works better than not praying spread THE WORD and don't follow anymore liars into a dark pit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-schiffman/why-people-who-pray-are-heathier_b_1197313.html

http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-prayer-heal

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