"While surveys show that about 80 percent of Americans consider themselves religious, only about 40 percent of Americans reported regularly  attending church - about the same percentage as in 1939, said Koenig. And younger generations are consistently less religious than their  parents.

But Koenig said there is some research suggesting that humans actually are biologically wired to be religious or spiritual. In fact, this  week's [17 January 2004] Time magazine cover story, 'The God Gene,' says many scientists believe our DNA compels us to seek a higher power.

'Religious faith may help people live longer,' said Koenig. 'Because it affects our health, it may be that it's genetically programmed.'"

(Source: "Is God an Anti-Depressant? Studies Show That Religious People Are Happier," ABC News, January 23, 2005;  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=435412&page=1 .)

"We've found that people who are more religiously involved, especially in their religious communities, tend to have better health.  ...They  have less depression, greater well-being, cope better with stress, have lower blood pressure and stronger immune systems, and they live  longer."

(Source: Harold Koenig, in Victoria Weston, "Religion and medicine: Living on a prayer," The Chronicle [Duke University], January 26, 2005;  http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/26/41f77360ac6a2 .)

Want to live a long life?  Then attend church regularly.  Long life does indeed stand out as one of the distinguishing characteristics of  church-goers in a mortality study recently completed by researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Texas at Austin.   Parsing data collected from a probability sample of adults 25 and over from the 48 coterminous states, the Michigan and Texas scholars  establish that "individuals who report attending religious services once a month or more ... have a 30-35 percent reduced risk of death over  a 7.5 year period in statistical models."  The "protective effect of service attendance"-which the researchers regard as "significant and  sizable" -appears most pronounced among adults 25 to 59.  Quite possibly, the researchers suggest, religious involvement fosters "better  health behaviors (especially physical behavior)" of the sort that are most important in "the time period during adulthood that holds the  greatest potential for preventable deaths." 

Of course, not all Americans are equally likely to keep the Grim Reaper at bay by worshiping regularly.  And who are the Americans most  likely to enjoy the longer lives associated with prayerfulness?   The authors of the new study find that compared to single peers, married  men and women are much more likely to attend church regularly (p < 0.001) and-accordingly-much less likely to suffer a premature death (p <  0.001).  Apparently, the men and women who have found their way to the chapel for nuptials are those who keep the undertaker waiting by regularly attending church.