A modern-day news story from Time Magazine explains the association between those who attend religious gatherings and obesity. While religious activity is connected to many health benefits, one recent study shows that actively religious, middle-aged adults tend to be more obese than those who do not regularly attend religious functions (Park, 2011).
The authors supported their article with a study from Northwestern University where the researchers asked the question of how and why this association exists. The study spanned eighteen years, starting with subjects aged 20 to 32. The study concluded that those who attend religious gatherings at least once per week were more than twice as likely to be obese than those who do not attend religious events (Park, 2011). They attribute this to the availability of food and drink at the gatherings (Par, 2011). The article goes on to address the opportunity for religious organizations to take advantage of this information and develop health-conscious workout programs for their members.
The variables at play in this article are religious gathering attendance and body weight. The article aims to show the positive correlation between going to church and obesity. They address this by presenting a correlational study that confirmed this association, but not its causation. The authors note a possible implication that this could be due to “more opportunities to gather over food and drink” but do not directly address the cause of this association. There is an ethical issue in assuming that this causation exists without experimental proof. It could be the case that those who are religious become obese but it could also be true that those who are obese lean toward religion; and if this is true then a Type-I research error has occurred (Hutchison, 20121).
In addition, there could be outside variables influencing this outcome that are not being taken into account. For example, more religious people live in the Bible Belt than other locations in the country, and people in this area tend to eat an unhealthier diet in general (Hutchison, 2011). When reading the actual research study, the scientists conclude that the association exists but is also confounded by other demographic factors (Feinstein, Liu, Ning, Fitchett, & Lloyd-Jones, 2012).
Concluding - I do not feel like this article has merit in proving that people who attend church will be fat or that going to church causes obesity. Don’t let articles like this deter your spiritual motivation but allow them to guide your self-awareness in case you do fall into this category