Utilizing statistics from the Calorie Lab and Gallup polls, "Born Atheist" author Tim Covell suggests that the more religious you are, the fatter you are. After all, he found, nine states are in the top 10 rankings for both religiousness and obesity "¦ and " shock, shock, horror, horror " Oklahoma is one of them!
Mississippi, the most religious state in the country, is also the most obese. Where does the Sooner State land (with a thud) on this list? Ninth in loving God, sixth in loving fried foods on a stick.
"The religious promise of a new body after death," Covell said in a press release, "may lead the faithful to neglect their bodies here on earth."
That may be the reason, or it could be from lining up at the gluttony trough after Sunday service.
To further his "holy roller" hypothesis, the author noted a study funded by the pro-religion Templeton Foundation, which sought to determine whether the power of prayer had any effect on heart patients' recovery. Among other things, the study found that the group of patients receiving prayer " and had knowledge of that " was the only one with "significantly poorer health outcomes."
"That group," Covell said, "thought God would take care of things for them and therefore took poorer care of their health."
If that's true, then " cue Carrie Underwood " Jesus, take the wheel. Take it from my hands "¦ when we try to make a turn into Krispy Kreme.
Makes sense. Belief in a bearded man who lives in the clouds and belief that cheeseburgers will not make you fat if you pray are the same kind of faith-based delusions.