How religious leaders can impact obesity

Summary-Critique Article. Two pages is the summary part, which just summarize what you read and do not include your personal opinions and thoughts. The other two pages is the critique so write the strengths and weaknesses of the article you read.

Summary

To begin, the article describes the role religious leaders can plan in helping mitigate the obesity epidemic within the United States. The article details the overall severity of the problem and its overall impact on society. The problem is that many individuals live a sedentary lifestyle along with engaging in poor eating habits. This problem has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as more individuals have been relegated to working from home and gyms were closed to prevent the spread of the virus. Likewise, fast food options and unhealthy lifestyles have become the norm in society. People heavily emphasize convenience and therefore often elect to eat unhealthy foods as oppose to preparing healthy ones. This, according to the articles has contributed to a higher percentage of Americans being classified as overweight or obese, which currently stands at 70%. Likewise, this has contributed to heavy increases in heart and other health related deaths, which has the cascading effect of increasing healthcare costs, work absenteeism, and shortly life spans. According to the article, this combination of deteriorating health and nutrition standards combined with every increasing sedentary lifestyle show no sign of abating.

The article notes that religious leaders are very uniquely qualified and positioned to help reduce the overall incidence of obesity through their power and influence. In many instances, religious leaders, particularly in the south command very large audiences and financial resources which can be devoted to battling the obesity epidemic. For one, many church and religious establishments are not subject to taxes. Many religious organizations are exempt for income taxes and receive highly favorable tax treatment not afforded to other areas of industry. As a result, many religious organizations are inherently more profitable by virtue of their favored treatment by society. It is therefore within the purview of many of these organizations to give back to society in exchange for the benefits they accrue from not paying taxes. A portion of these savings according to the article, should be attributed to helping lower the incidence of obesity within the United States. Funding can be used to help promote healthy lifestyles, provide programming designed to encourage active living, and even establish organizations designed to fight obesity.

Likewise, many religious leaders, unlike many other positions of power in America, have a very loyal and captive audience. The article details that many religious leaders have furvert followers willing to abide by the leaders direction so far as it is aligned with their religious beliefs. The bible in particular, is littered with direct references to physical fitness and well-being. For example, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 reads, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body” Many other verses within the bible heavily emphasize the need for physical fitness and it some cases mandate it. This alignment of religious interests, the need for a behavioral change within the Nation, and the ability of religious leaders to put these changes in place, are what appeals to the authors of the article.

Further aligning biblical teachings with behaviors, the article notes that many religious followers often live healthier and more prosperous lives relative to their non-religious counterparts. Again, a primary catalyst for this is that many religious texts mandate moderation and a healthy lifestyle. True follower of these religions feels obligated to adhere to the tenets espoused in their religious texts. As a result, according to the article, religious individuals tend to have much less stress, much healthier lifestyles, and better of overall outcomes than their non-religious counterparts. The article also cited various sources to further validate their claims. Within the article the authors used research conducted by Ellison and Levin that provided further evidence that religious individuals experienced less blood pressure, less hospitalizations, and less depression that their non-religious counterparts (Ellison, 1998) . These results are non-only unique to America and its obesity epidemic. Other developed nations are experiencing the same research findings. The article details how a Norwegian study found very similar results. Here the results indicated that the variables used to measure religious activities were also heavily correlated to physical health. Unfortunately, not all areas of religious have experienced these results. The article has indicated that many Christians within the southern United States are actually contributing to the obesity epidemic in America. Here dietary habits such as fried foods and fatty ingredients contributes to a number of health-related problems. These problems are particularly acute in the African American community which also suffers from poor dietary habits.

Article Critique

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article as the authors where very cogent and concise. I will begin with a few of my personal challenges against the article. To begin, to me, the article was placing far too much importance on the power of religious leaders on the day to day behaviors of human beings. Although many do enjoy their religious activities and research has shown the health benefit of being active in religious organizations, food consumption often suffers from the same adverse circumstances as physical activity – habits. Essentially, religious leaders can not force habits into their congregation, instead it requires a much more comprehensive and holistic approach. Religious leaders cannot observe the behavior of each member of their congregation daily. They must trust that they will make the correct decisions. If a 70% overweight or obesity rate is any indication, people are not choosing correctly. The reason for this inconsistent behavior between what people should do and what they are actually doing is heavily influenced by sources beyond the religious leaders control.