Church is Healthy

As I read my post from yesterday it occurred to me to mention that regular attendance at a church is healthy no matter what kind of denomination, with a few exceptions. You can be a Roman Catholic or a Baptist and regular church attendance is good for you and the kids. You can attend a Lutheran or Pentecostal church and be a blessing to yourself and your children.

There are hundreds if not thousands of research studies by non-believing scientists that indicate over and over again that religious observance is good for our marriages and good for our children as well as good for our bodies. (A few studies do indicate that Conservative churches build more resilent kids than Liberal ones.)

The exceptions to this rule are few. One set of studies showed rather conclusively that children reared in homes of single parents are much more at risk than if they had both parents living together. So, if you want to give your kids a better chance to live well stay together and if you have lot of conflict get marital counseling. Counseling really can help. Counseling works!

However, if a single parent takes his or her children to church on a regular basis the negative effects of being a single parent are dramatically reduced. Here is my conclusion: If you really want your kids to have the best chance to live a long and healthy life stay married and stay in church.

There is one caveat. If parents act like religious and moral people at church but are hypocrites who live like the devil at home, their kids are damaged. If you act pious with the public but are brutal drinkers at home you need to decide which life you want or you will send your kids into a moral tailspin.

If you are a cursing, drinking adulterer at home do the same in the world. Don't put on a mask. Be real as a Christian or as a pagan. It is better for your kids. Of course, paganism is bad for everybody but it is a free country.