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by bennysonething 1172 days ago
Same as being a Catholic "sign up to feel guilty for the rest of your life". I should know, I was born one !
1 comments

I'm in RCIA classes to convert to Catholicism. I'm skipping this Easter's big confirmation event to give it some more time. I'm chiming in to reply to this comment. Catholicism is a practical way to deal with the guilt you (should?) already feel.
I definitely would recommend trying therapy before religion.
Not mutually exclusive. Also, would you include most, if not all present day ideologies as "religion"? Including the one in this very post.
I would not.
It was a rhetorical statement.
How bizarre.
Religion has had that role of support and counsel for millennia. Therapy is a newcomer on the scene, with generally little evidence for its efficacy above and beyond what talking to a religious leader would provide; so much so that there is a growing movement for "evidence-based therapy", whose existence might imply that the other kind is evidence-free.
I think you're misrepresenting the efficacy of psychotherapy, and I don't think you'll have a lot of success pitching religion as an evidence-based alternative.
The scientific evidence strongly supports the conclusion that religious people are happier and healthier than non-religious people: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/389510/relig...
This makes sense, but none of it supports an argument that religious observance is a reasonable alternative to acute mental health care. Religious people are healthier than non-religious people, but when their appendices burst, they still need a doctor, not a deacon.
How is thousand of years not evidence?

Therapy is important but don't discount the power of prayer and community.