Uh-oh.
"Research shows that attending faith-based services 4 times per month will add 4 to 14 years of life expectancy."
Looks like my atheism is is worse than smoking, who knew.
It's plausible that the faith-based stuff is just a decent proxy for actually having a functional community and community support.
Going to a community event on a regular basis is a way to meet people and build relationships.
Faith is a way to incentivize going to a community event on a regular basis, and faith communities provide quite a lot of the supply of community events.
https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Society_of_Fri....
I'm not saying only religion offers a sense of purpose. But just a bunch of nice people in a building talking about being nice doesn't often work.
From my own experience, I'd guess 50pc or more don't really believe.
I've been lucky to live for the last 10 years in a place* where it's easy to form lasting friendships with like-minded, earnest people. For me, I know I'm in the right place when I have friends with whom I can share my insecurities, and they can share theirs, and there's no judgment.
From here I think it's just a matter of prioritizing community whenever it's time to move next, whether it's seeking out groups of friends from our little diaspora or making new friends. That makes sense to do whether I have a partner or not.
(*never expected that Beijing would be so great in this way. I don't know if the expat scene in other major cities is similar; maybe it's just because the community is small here and the city attracts people who prefer not to coast through life)
I really think they're referring to the communal feeling of religion. Forget about the religion itself, it's an incredibly effective way to get to know hundreds of people, which enriches your life.
We're social creatures and religion is social on steroids.
Dad: "It's freezing in this church".
Mum: "Shhhht! We're in session, have some respect".
Dad: "At least it will be warm in hell".