Now on Ghost
This is Ask Isabel: Advice for the Spiritually Perplexed or Vexed, formerly at Substack. You can subscribe for free if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails each time a column is published!
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Are religious people happier and healthier?
Dear Isabel, Can you settle an argument between me and my partner? She says religious people are happier and healthier than non-religious people. I think it sounds like a piece of propaganda religions spread to get people to join a church. Doubtful Dear Doubtful, You’re both going to be
How Much Should We Shape Our Children's Religious Lives?
Dear Isabel, My spouse and I have two children under 8. Both of us have strong, mostly negative feelings about how we were raised, in terms of religion. We want our children to develop their own religious beliefs as they grow older. But we’ve also observed beliefs out in
Is Religion Worth All These Religious Wars?
Dear Isabel, Religion causes so much war and destruction. It seems like every day the news is full of horrors from Gaza, the Islamic State makes war in hopes of establishing a caliphate, and of course then in history there have all those wars of religion: the Crusades, the Inquisition,
One weekend, two separate services
Dear Isabel, My husband and I decided when we got married to each stick with our religions: mine Jewish, his Protestant. We have both gotten more involved with our places of worship over the subsequent ten years, though, and it feels like we never have weekend time together. Now that