# Do Christian Scientists live as long as the rest of us?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christian-scientists-live-as-long-as-the-rest-of-us/354466>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 27, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christian-scientists-live-as-long-as-the-rest-of-us/354466 "2006-04-27T16:38:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christian-scientists-live-as-long-as-the-rest-of-us/354466/1 "2006-04-27T16:38:06Z")

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This (poorly worded) question was inspired by a cartoon in the May 1 issue of The New Yorker. A guy at an informal social, chatting with a couple of folks says:

“I couldn’t afford health insurance so I became a Christian Scientist.”

If these folks don’t seek out the kind of medical help that most of us do when we get sick, do they tend to die sooner?

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**Author:** ![Bertie\_Wooster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@Bertie\_Wooster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bertie_Wooster)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christian-scientists-live-as-long-as-the-rest-of-us/354466/2 "2006-04-27T16:58:58Z")

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Simpson, WF (1989) Comparative longevity in a college cohort of Christian Scientists. _JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association_, 262,12, 1657-1658.

According to this study, [no](http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/262/12/1657).

And it gets grimmer:  
Asser, SM and Swan, R. (1997) Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated Medical Neglect. _Pediatrics_, 101, 4, 625-629.

[Their children die needlessly, too](http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/101/4/625).

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**Author:** ![Bertie\_Wooster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58f4c7/32.png) [@Bertie\_Wooster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bertie_Wooster)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-christian-scientists-live-as-long-as-the-rest-of-us/354466/3 "2006-04-27T17:03:07Z")

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> [@Bertie Wooster](#):
>
> According to this study, [no](http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/262/12/1657).

Just to be clear, when I say that, I mean “No, Christian Scientists do not live as long as non-Christian Scientists.”