Denzel E.

Quinajon
Ms. Kristine Marie T. Reynaldo
14491 ENG11 WFX2
May 29, 2015

Introduction
In this paper, I will be comparing the advantages of religion to the physical,
mental and moral aspects of a child while growing up in our society and the
characters from the story Hell is the Absence of God. I will write this paper with
observable findings from international scientific researches and surveys and
compare it to my interpretation of the characters from the story. I will conclude this
paper with a decision of whether if I will raise my child in a religious household or if I
will raise my child in a non-religious household.

Social and Psychological Advantages

The power of religion in our society lies in the fact that it is able to respond to
the diverse needs of its members. Since the time of Sigmund Freud and Emile
Durkheim, social scientists have debated about what religions use is, though it is
clear that the effects of the religion itself is different depending on how people view
it.
There are people that use their faith feel secure, to mitigate the anxiety from
within, like a college student who feels comfort and solace from his fears. He knows
that there is someone looking down on you and paying attention on you on both
good times and bad times.
There are people that use their faith to find answers to questions that cannot
be answered by a normal human, existential questions like what is my purpose or
why am I suffering like this, or questions about what comes after death. This helps
people who are left crippled by the circumstances in life, like this paraplegic person
that says "Well, I'm put in this situation to learn certain things, 'cause nobody else is

in this situation.' It's a learning experience; I see God's trying to put me in

situations, help me learn about Him and myself and also how I can help other
people".
There are people that use their religion and faith to control earthly impulses
like excessive appetite, overeating or extreme obesity. People all over the world
have claimed that their specific gods had gave them a purpose, and it cant be done
without living long enough. This gave them the will to try to be physically fit again
and leave their past habits that were detrimental to their health.
There are people that use their religion to strengthen them when they are
feeling weak and overwhelmed. They go to their specific gods to create a bridge to
the solutions they need, from big problems like financial problems, relationship
problems and parental problems to small problems like school problems and friends.
Given these things, the biggest advantage to people from religion in the
social and psychological level is the sense of belongingness in a large community of
people, given that it is the third most important need from Maslows hierarchy of
needs after physiological needs and safety. This is advantage is felt by everyone.
Everyone in a particular community sends their messages and regards to people,
from birthdays parties and marriages to funerals and extreme sickness.

Household Advantages
Under the household, religion also impacts the child and their relationship
with other people. Children tend to have stronger relationships with their parents.
According to a 1999 study, parents who deemed religion to be very important rated
their relationship with their child significantly higher. It is found that parents
religious affiliations and religious attendance was greatly associated with their
involvement in the activities of their children, such as one-on-one interaction,
having dinner with their families, and volunteering for youth-related activities.
Compared with fathers who had no religious affiliation, those who attended religious
services frequently were more likely to monitor their children, praise and hug their
children, and spend time with their children.

Religion also played a role in the decrease of domestic violence inside the
household. Men who religiously go to a religious service at least once a weak were
more than 50 percent less likely to hurt their partners and their children that men
who only attend religious services once a year. No matter how the data were
analyzed, regular attendance to religious services had a strong link to the decrease
in the incidence of domestic abuse.
Religious practice also has a strong link to decreased sexual behavior in
teens. It is also the second most significant factor that decreases sexual behavior
among teens, after parental marriage. Analysis of data from the National
Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health found that children under households that
practices religion has reduced the odds of girls being sexually active by 16 percent
and boys by 12 percent. Another study discovered that traditional values and
religious beliefs were among the strongest factors cited by teens as their reason for
remaining sexually abstinent, second only to fear (examples are the fear of an
unwanted pregnancy, a sexually transmitted disease, or parental discipline).

Mental and Educational Advantages

In a review of decades of social sciences research in the advantages of
mental health, 81 percent of 99 studies concluded that there is a strong association
between religious involvement and happiness, life satisfaction, morals and other
measures of well-being. This analysis comprises of a vast variety of people from
different ages and races.
Of the studies cited in Byron Johnsonss intense research, 65 percent
concluded that religious involvement and practice tends to increase ones selfesteem. More than 80 percent of the studies also revealed that religious
involvement and practice correspond with increased levels of social support.
Being a member in a religious community can boost up coping skills. One
study concluded that spiritual support from fellow church goers greatly contributed
to people having a more positive coping response. When like-minded individuals
and families joined together in prayer, mutual support, or religious practice, they

viewed their circumstances with spiritual significance: not only for mundane daily
affairs, but also in major life traumas.
According to a review in more than 100 studies, people who are involved in
religious organizations and have a strong faith to their specific god have a reduced
risk for depression and 87 percent of these studies also concluded that being
religiously active reduced the frequency of suicide. Levels of depression were also
lower for those who actively joined in religious services than those who only prayed
on their own. Additionally, studies also have found that people who have no
religious affiliations tend to have a higher risk of suicide, and people who have high
levels of spiritual support from their peers tend to have the lowest level of
depression.

Academic expectations, level of education attained, school attendance, and

academic performance are all positively affected by religious involvement. Two
studies concluded that, educational attainment aspirations and math and reading
scores correlated positively with more frequent religious practice. A study also
concluded that students who study in religiously affiliated schools have an
increased level of academic achievement that other students in regular schools.
The values from religious communities are also a significant path in the
increased levels of academic for adolescents. An example is that to earn a high
school diploma, a student must plan for the make a formulated and structured plan
for their future and their future activities. A religious community often devotes time
in teaching their members to form an ethic with much discipline and perseverance.

Moral Advantages
Religious involvement and practices is beneficial not only to the individual,
but also to the community itself. Religious people are more sensitive to the needs of
others, as a result they tend to be more charitable than normal citizens and more
likely to be the more productive members of their communities. Among a survey
population, religious people were 40 percent more likely to help charities and twice
as likely to volunteer to community work than their non-religious counterparts.

Religion is also one the strongest links when it comes to preventing violent
crimes. A study on religion and crime concluded that religious individuals are less
likely to display violent behavior than their non-religious counterparts. Furthermore,
areas with a higher percentage of religious population have fewer homicides and
manslaughter.

Physical Advantages
A longer lifespan has a strong link to high levels of religious practice and
involvement, regardless of sex, age, race, education or health of those studies. A
nine year study concluded that the religious attendance of at least once a week
resulted in an additional seven years of life expectancy than those who did not
involve themselves in religious practices. This is as great as the difference of life
expectancy between nonsmokers and those who smoke one pack of cigarette a day.
This study also showed that volunteer work in addition to church attendance
contributed to even longer life expectancy.
Two studies has also found that people who are actively involved in their
particular religions were 25 percent less likely to die from accidents and 46 percent
less likely to die from diseases and terminal ailments . It was also concluded in
these studies that frequent church attendees were physically healthier and
displayed a set of healthier lifestyle behaviors than those who does not attend
church.
Multiple studies also concluded that that religion has a strong link to healthy
habits concerning cigarettes, alcohol and drugs. Higher involvement in religious
practices tend to have a lower rate of abuse and addiction to these substances, and
they are more likely to find great success if they are already abusing and addicted
to these substances.

Characters:

Janice Reilly
Janice is a very religious woman who lived under a religious house and whose
parents are also utterly religious. She was one of the casualties of a visitation and
as a result, she lost her legs before birth. She was always told that her deformity
was a blessing, that she was one of the keys that helped save a lot of other people
in that visitation. Also, four deceased relatives appeared to her family, further
strengthening their faith as a whole family. She was strong, powerful and functional,
despite having no legs, but upon receiving her legs again, she felt weak and
powerless. As a child of God, she had to find the purpose of this incident. At the end,
she was ever powerful, losing her eyesight for the greater good. She was a more
powerful speaker than before.
Looking at Janice, she is the embodiment of everything religious. She was a
speaker, a sharer and most importantly, a proud child of God. We can clearly see
the psychological and social advantages on her, she was secure and not anxious
even though she had no legs. She was exactly like the interviewed paraplegic
person, she looked at the reason why she was legless, and used it for her
advantage. She had no intense bad impulses to control. When she was gifted with
legs again, she felt weak. She built a bridge to through her pilgrimage, and found
the answer she was looking for. She was also part of her religious community,
sharing her thoughts and helping other people through her contributions to the
disabled peoples support group.
She was also mentally strong. She positively coped with her new set of legs
because she had a group to share it too, while praying with each other to find the
reason why. This was a major life event at the same time losing her touch in sharing
to disabled peers because she lost her disability. She did not get depressed because
of so much positive reinforcements from her peers.
She was also morally intact. She was very charitable and generous to her
peers, both devout and undevout. It was also implicitly clear that she was not a
violent criminal.

Neil Fisk
Neil was not a religious man. He attributed everything that he experienced to
mankind and nature, from his disability to his unfulfilled life, as a result, he didnt
really loved God. He married a woman he loved so much, but she died due to
circumstances controlled by God.
Looking at Neil, he was puny and weak when compared to Janice. He didnt
give importance to God, as a result, he had a psychological and social
disadvantage. He didn't have anyone to ask about why he is suffering like this,
given that he had a disability same as Janice, he didn't handle it well as she did. He
didn't have a God to make him feel strong again. He can't make a bridge to find the
solutions to his problem because he didn't have anything or anyone on the other
side to end his bridge. He also had no sense of belongingness in a world where God
exists, because he was not devout. There are also no support groups targeted to
help non-devout citizens, giving him a much larger disadvantage.
He was also mentally weak. He cannot cope well in a major trauma in his life,
the death of Sarah, because he didnt have a support group, whom he agrees with,
to comfort him. He cant get any spiritual support because he was not spiritual
himself. He was depressed because he cant receive any positive reinforcement
from a religious perspective (because he was not religious) and it resulted to him
being desperate and go to greater lengths to go to heaven and meet Sarah again.
He was so depressed that he thought of suicide, but luckily he thought about it
before even trying. He also had a very low self-esteem, he thought of himself as not
worthy and weak before her found Sarah.
He was morally damaged. He was so dedicated to reaching the light that he
ignored the people in other ATVs that exploded. It made him numb to emotions. He
was not charitable too, he never contributed to the welfare of his support group. He
was brash and annoying in multiple ways.

Conclusion:
After being presented with overwhelming evidence in both a fictional and
non-fictional world, it is worth it to raise a child in a religious household. Given that

some advantages are only attained in a household with both parents religious, I
would try my best to be the most religious I can be, and find a woman whos willing
to be religious for the sake of the child (or being innately religious).
The biggest factor is that you need your child to be open to the parents. This
requires dedication and some interaction with both parents from a young age. This
is crucial part of a childs development, and it can be helped by religion. Going to
church every Sunday and have family time is so beneficial towards achieving this
goal.
I will end this with the Pascals wager, Yes; but you must wager. It is not
optional. You are embarked. Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must
choose, let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true
and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your knowledge
and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your
reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you must of
necessity choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the
gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you
gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that
He is.

References:
Axinn, William G. "The Impact of Family Religious Life on the Quality of Mother-Child
Relations." American Sociological Review. Vol. 63. N.p.: American Sociological
Association, 1998. 810-28. Print. Ser. 6.

Wilcox, William Bradford. Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers
and Husbands. 1st ed. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2004. Print.

Hummer, Robert A., Richard G. Rogers, Charles B. Nam, and Christopher G. Ellison.
"Reigious Involvement and U.S. Adult Mortality." Demography 36 (1999): 273-87.
Web.

Ellison, Christopher G., John P. Bartkowski, and Kristin L. Anderson. "Are There
Religious Variations in Domestic Violence?" Journal of Family Issues 20 (1999): 87113. Web.

Ellison,

Christopher

G.,

"Race,

Religious

Involvement,

and

Depressive

Symptomatology in a Southeastern U.S. Community," Social Science and Medicine

40 (1995): pp. 1561-1572. Web.

Regnerus, Mark D., "Shaping Schooling Success: Religious Socialization and

Educational Outcomes in Metropolitan Public Schools," Journal for the Scientific
Study of Religion 39 (2000): pp. 363-370. Web.

Brooks, Arthur C., "Compassion, Religion, and Politics," Public Interest, 2004: pp. 5766.

Fagan, Patrick F., "The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of
Marriage, Family, and Community," Heritage Foundation Backgrounder. 1995
www.heritage.org/Research/Crime/upload/bg_1026.pdf.

Wood, Connor. "Does Religion Make Us Moral?" Science on Religion. N.p., 12 June
2012.

Web.

27

May

2015.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/scienceonreligion/2012/06/does-religion-make-usmoral/>

<