# Why Are Religious People More Likely To Be Overweight? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 26, 2002, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978 "2002-12-26T16:12:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/41 "2002-12-30T23:11:03Z")
Even if they didn’t count it, it could still matter. Or maybe the study did account for it, but the article just left it off to avoid having a laundry list that most people wouldn’t be interested in. We’d need to go to the study to see for sure, although I’d be surprised if the authors missed something so obvious. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/42 "2002-12-31T14:23:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lissa \* > \*\*(NOTE: My experience is with fundamentalist Baptist churchgoers) > > For a lot of groups, a dinner or “banquet” as they’re more commonly termed, is the only acceptable social gathering. \*\* Amen to that.😉 My wife’s family is SBC, and you would not believe family gatherings. Last thanksgiving there was at least one complete pie or cake for every attendee, plus a turkey, 2 hams, fried chicken, casseroles…no kidding, enough food for 4 times as many people who were there. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/43 "2002-12-31T14:29:14Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t know when the last time you looked in the pews of the local church, but to my experience they are as likely to be filled by doctors, professors, and scientists as people of any other profession. My local church (or at least the one I was raised in) was predominately poor, and none of the professions you mentioned were represented in that congregation. So I would be very careful extropolating your local church to all churches. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/44 "2002-12-31T14:48:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chanticleer \* > \*\*I have often wondered though, why most of the welfare folks on the talk shows who are using public assistance including food stamps, are grossly overweight. It’s simple – Because Doritos and Pepsi are cheap, just like most other fatty-carbo rich foods. ---
**Author:** ![a\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@a\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_Mike)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/45 "2002-12-31T15:22:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by monstro \* > \*\*My local church (or at least the one I was raised in) was predominately poor, and none of the professions you mentioned were represented in that congregation. So I would be very careful extropolating your local church to all churches. \*\* I have been in poor churches, rich churches and those in between. The point, however, was that faith and science are not mutually exclusive by any means. The idea that faith and science are at opposition is a myth. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/46 "2002-12-31T15:25:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by a\_Mike \* > \*\*I have been in poor churches, rich churches and those in between. The point, however, was that faith and science are not mutually exclusive by any means. The idea that faith and science are at opposition is a myth. \*\* 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/47 "2002-12-31T15:56:57Z")
There’s also the “Cult of Being Thin.” People who devote so much time, energy and prayer to being thin that they don’t have enough time and energy left to be religious. Being thin takes time, energy, and even money away from the church. “You cannot serve two masters.” ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/48 "2002-12-31T16:12:16Z")
a\_Mike, unfortunately you’re preaching to the choir. Be honest: do you really think most deeply religious people give a rat’s ass about what science or medicine thinks, especially when that thought is perceived to change on a daily basis? I don’t think they do. I had a Sunday School teacher who once said that dinosaur bones were actually cow bones that the Satan-influenced scientists were trying to pass off evidence of God’s non-existence. My church was full of people like her and I’d bet there are millions of others just like her. It’s because of my experience that I’m not so quick to dismiss the idea that religionists tend not to give science their undivided attention. ---
**Author:** ![a\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@a\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_Mike)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2002, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/49 "2002-12-31T16:14:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by seal\_clubber \* > \*\*😕 \*\* You’ll have to be more specific on what you find confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Rogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rogg)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978/50 "2003-01-01T13:59:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Surreal \* > \*\* > “_The faithful are fatter than ever—at least in this country—according to Kenneth Ferraro, a sociologist at the University of Purdue. His analysis of data from two national surveys, published in the Review of Religious Research last March, shows that religious people tend to be more corpulent than their nonreligious counterparts._” > > “_even when such factors as … education, …are adjusted for, religious people in America still show a greater tendency toward obesity than their secularized counterparts._” > If you are inclined to answer that the connection is ‘lack of education’, please explain why less educated people are more likely to be religious. > > \*\* It would be highly unlikely for anyone to argue that the connection is lack of education, given that it was adjusted for in the analysis. What kinds of things could really cause the correlation? Hmmm… Drug use! Religious people would be less likely to use illegal drugs that emaciate a person. Ceremonial use of bread in religious observances. Sabbath bread for Jews, and Passover Matzot. Communion for Christians, well…that is usually a rather small piece of bread? Religious people bless their food before they eat it. What if it’s really working!? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-religious-people-more-likely-to-be-overweight/144978.md?page=2)