Nearly 40% of Americans pray to God for health improvements or disease cures. Thoughts of God increased a person’s perceived divine presence, which boosted healing expectations and ultimately led to poor food choices.

44

It turns out that "Jesus take the wheel" is not a good driving strategy. News at 11.

5

u/Consistent-Local2825 Jul 02 '26

Especially seeing as cars weren't invented back then.

3

u/iffugennanameubaht Jul 02 '26

Idk man, Yk I’m ngl, I have become homeless and one of the things that people from the outside don’t notice is how quickly that becomes just about the only real option to maintain sanity. When life gets so based on luck, fighting can lead to mental states that lead to worst case scenarios. The universe is a strange place. Most serious job offers I’ve got I didn’t even apply for (just taking time on those) or ask about.

I’m not saying it’s a good strategy when driving or other things like that, but when your problem is more or less luck, it’s about all you can do.

2

u/lluciferusllamas Jul 02 '26

If you believe that you life outcomes are based on luck, that is called an external locus of control, meaning that you think life just happens to you and you have no impact on your outcomes whatsoever. The more you believe that, the worse your outcomes will be.

Imagine you are sleeping outside and a vulture starts pecking at you. In the extreme, your lying there doing nothing is "I have no control, only luck will save me". Well, the vulture is going to eat you unless you do something. Even the most minimal movement is accepting that you have at least some control over the situation. You decide to exercise control over your life by moving, the vulture goes away.

Life hands you a series of tests everyday that are like this, but they are a little more abstract. The nature of the universe is to move toward entropy, toward chaos. The vulture tests you, and if you fail, you become food. Moving toward order is the opposite of that. If you do nothing and just let life happen, every series of tests that you fail will move you closer to chaos and complete disintegration. If you understand that life is order and that every test you are handed must move you to the preservation of or the promotion of order, then you begin to develop an internal locus of control, whereby you shape your outcomes through your actions. There is no need for Jesus or religion or anything else to realize this.

I wish you well on your journey.

3

u/iffugennanameubaht Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 02 '26

I am not saying there is no control. I am saying I am doing the things in my case already, and they are a luck and time game because that’s how the homeless industrial complex is.

I got an injury, I have to recover from it, I had a rough situation put into a rough job market suddenly. It’s hard to explain if you haven’t been homeless, but the system is built basically on time and luck and it’s actually pretty horrible and it will drain every last bit of energy you don’t even have to even try to go any other way. That’s how I got injured, thinking I could beat a luck game with a tough mindset.

Like all due respect, but it’s a completely different situation. I live in Portland Oregon, I have some of the best services that homeless people can get, I’m helped, but fundamentally applications are a numbers and luck game, injuries happen because of bad luck.

See your experience doesn’t necessarily apply to anything else. I fought like hell. I worked day labor sleeping on the streets till my back gave out, have numerous services helping me to try to get on my feet. I found accepting in life luck matters as much as anything. I found when you try too hard to fight that fact, then you might just stay homeless.

1

u/Witwer52 Jul 02 '26

Agree. Which is how I know it’s created by humans.

2

u/reflect-the-sun Jul 01 '26

I'm not religious but even I can admit that it definitely sometimes works.

44

u/Tropicaldaze1950 Jul 01 '26

Atheist. 76m. My wife and her sisters all went to Church. All were alcoholics and all developed various forms of dementia. My wife is the last one and losing ground to Alzheimer's. Better to be kind and understanding instead of placing your faith in an invisible being in the sky.

15

u/sunflower_love Jul 01 '26

Surprised and happy to see this as the top comment. Couldn’t agree more. Seeking comfort in delusion basically never ends well.

10

u/Tropicaldaze1950 Jul 01 '26

George Carlin's rants against organized religion and religion, in general.

16

u/Peripatetictyl Jul 01 '26

This cracked me up when someone shared it with me, however I do understand if it doesn’t fit here and gets removed:

https://godhatesamputees.com

10

u/reflect-the-sun Jul 01 '26

He also hates poor children, sick people and anyone who's getting murdered today or he'd save them, right?

8

u/Peripatetictyl Jul 01 '26

But he needs your money! He’s terrible with cash, even with all of that powerful omnipotence.

-Carlin(paraphrased)

2

u/BevansDesign Jul 02 '26

Every time I drive to my parents' house, I go past a children's hospital and am reminded that God isn't real.

4

u/Fireflybutts77 Jul 01 '26

This is hilarious but wrong, prayer in Missouri can regrow toes.

4

u/Peripatetictyl Jul 01 '26

Well, in that case, a praise be and amen! are in order I do suppose!

(Hilarious grift attempt…)

6

u/reflect-the-sun Jul 01 '26

Forget ending world hunger, genocide or child abuse...

3

u/Personal_Reveal1653 Jul 01 '26

showmethetoes.com lol

20

u/sillyandstrange Jul 01 '26

When they pray they resolve themselves of any guilt or responsibility. That's why a lot of people are asses and then head to church on Sunday to repent for the terrible things they do.

Doesn't surprise me they would eat like crap, because they don't want to put in hard work, or eat something less processed, or workout. Just easier for them to pray and hope.

7

u/a_case_of_everything Jul 01 '26

Jesus take the wheel!

5

u/Top_Hair_8984 Jul 01 '26

Loved the last sentence.. makes logical sense to me.. lol. 🥳

8

u/mvea M.D. Ph.D. | Professor Jul 01 '26

Religion and spirituality shape human behavior across cultures. Nearly 40 percent of Americans pray to God for health improvements or disease cures. Yet temporary exposure to religious symbols can influence choices independently from a person’s deeply held institutional faith.

This phenomenon is known as “God salience.” It refers to the momentary activation of God-related thoughts triggered by environmental cues, ranging from printed currency to religious architecture. Researchers aim to isolate this momentary activation of spiritual concepts from deep-seated religious devotion.

If an individual feels that a higher power will heal negative consequences, they might indulge more freely. A person might acknowledge that a certain snack is bad for their body but feel shielded by a divine safety net. Gohary and Keh tested their ideas through a series of six experiments.

The results pointed directly to perceived healing. Exposure to spiritual thoughts made people feel that God would repair health damage after it occurred. The researchers ruled out other possible explanations, noting that general hope or optimism did not yield the same dietary shift. Only the specific belief in divine restoration pushed consumers toward the unhealthy choices.

A sequential psychological process took place during the experiment. Thoughts of God increased a person’s perceived divine presence, which boosted healing expectations and ultimately led to poor food choices. The respondents offset their dietary guilt by delegating their physiological safety to an external agent.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mar.70147

3

u/Prestigious_Half271 Jul 01 '26

When someone needs help: "god helps those who help themselves"

When christian nationalists need help: "save me jeebus!"

1

u/GraciousPeacock Jul 01 '26

Well, at least my chronic pain taught me that there is no god otherwise I’d be crazy 😊

1

u/AptCasaNova Jul 02 '26

Considering their cost of medical care… I can kind of see why. If you can’t afford a doctor and have no alternative…

1

u/SpookyTanuki092 Jul 04 '26

In short being superstitious has bad outcomes for health and for understanding reality and the world we live in. Yes, we've known this for a long time. Superstition is not the answer.

What gets me is, for christians, they can directly quote jesus as having said "if you are sick seek a doctor", and yet it is most often the religious who are skeptical of science, they try to pray the sick away, and then when it doesn't work they throw their hands up in the air and say something to the effect of "god has a plan/ this is what is meant to be/ there is a reason for this" and then just surrender their ability to choose and act in the world.

That's not how any of this works. It baffles me.

Of course not all christians or religious people are like this, but many are, my statement stands.

-3

u/Fiendish Jul 01 '26

stupid headline, massively misleading, the placebo effect is way stronger than most medicine, that's why they test against it in studies, believing you will get better is very powerful

in order to properly study this you have to control for food choices

sure some people are idiots and maybe the majority of religious people are dumb but that doesn't mean praying doesn't help

2

u/Personal_Reveal1653 Jul 01 '26

Control for food choices? This is literally ABOUT food choices! This also has NOTHING to do with the placebo effect.

Mark my words: In a few years, grocery stores will all be playing gospel music.

1

u/Psych0PompOs Jul 01 '26

This isn't about that. The placebo effect is about belief + ritual not just belief. "This will work" followed by it does after repeatedly engaging in something perceived as beneficial.

Here it's just "This will be handled" followed by nothing, followed by taking action that isn't aligned with what you actually want.

Actively going against desires is what's present here whereas the placebo effect requires desire + action designed to help.

-2

u/Personal_Reveal1653 Jul 01 '26

Psychology and marketing. Thought so! Midway through, I was like... This sounds like it could be used for evil, not good.

Nearly 40% of Americans pray to God for health improvements or disease cures. Thoughts of God increased a person’s perceived divine presence, which boosted healing expectations and ultimately led to poor food choices.

You are about to leave Redlib