The Obesity Epidemic Hits the Church!

Church apparently makes you fat.  (Story here.)

A 2006 Purdue study found that the fundamental Christians are by far the heaviest of all religious groups led by the Baptists with a 30% obesity rate compared with Jews at 1%, Buddhists and Hindus at 0.7%.

This study prompted the lead researcher, Ken Ferraro to say, “America is becoming a nation of gluttony and obesity and churches are a feeding ground for this problem.”

...Finally, a 2001 Pulpit and Pew study of 2,500 clergy found that 76% were overweight or obese compare to 61% of the general population at the time of the study.

Intriguing numbers to say the least. 

And where does the blame lie?  According to the article:

The contemporary church culture has unwittingly contributed to the rise in overweight and obese parishioners.

Today it is rare to hear a sermon preached on the stewardship of the physical body and even more rare on the vice of gluttony; it has become a secret and acceptable vice in the modern church. 

Tables at potlucks strain under the weight of pound cakes, pizza, fried chicken and cheesecake and fellowship is not considered complete without these rich, decadent –and yes addictive foods.

The sacred Sunday ritual between services is donuts, bagels and cream cheese, and coffee with cream and sugar. 

And finally, Platonic dualism, the belief that the spirit is sacred and the physical body is corrupt and inconsequential, perpetuates this problem and assists many in justifying unhealthy nutritional habits.

I'm not so sure this is it.  Far from it.  In fact, I'd like to argue that one of the main causes for obesity and unhealthiness in our churches is the issue of anxiety.  I blogged about this some months ago, but a recap might suffice.

Whenever our bodies are under stress and anxiety, they release cortisol.  This is how nature built us--particularly back in the days when we were running from lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Cortisol gave us an adrenalin burst which enabled us to fight or flee from danger.  You can read more about the stuff here.  Did you catch the last bullet point about what happens when higher and prolonged levels of cortisol are in the body?

Increased abdominal fat, which is associated with a greater amount of health problems than fat deposited in other areas of the body. Some of the health problems associated with increased stomach fat are heart attacks, strokes, the development of metabolic syndrome, higher levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lower levels of “good” cholesterol (HDL), which can lead to other health problems!

I think it's sad to say, but our churches and congregations are places of high stress and anxiety these days.  They have been for quite some time.  Somewhere along the way, especially in the mainline denominations, we figured out we were in decline.  We figured out we were gaining some members through the front door, but an even greater number were slipping out the back door.  We found ourselves woefully inadequate in engaging the questions of relativity and pluralism in the world.  We found ourselves allowing culture to dictate our doctrine instead of holding onto that which history has shown to be true.  We found our scapegoats in our clergy and are convinced they are responsible for our congregations' problems--if we only had better leadership, then things would be better.  No wonder clergy obesity rates are up there.

Yet, we've found that despite clergy turnover, things haven't stabilized.  They've gotten worse.  Anxiety continues to increase--despite what our faith tells us:

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.  --Matthew 6.

One has to wonder whether or not we are doing a good enough job of seeking the Kingdom of God?  One has to wonder if we actually focused on doing this and letting God worry about all those other details if things would fall into place?  One has to wonder if we remembered who is in charge of the Church--including our congregations--whether or not we'd spend so much time in anxiousness?  And one has to wonder if we spent less time in anxiousness if our cortisol levels wouldn't decrease along with our waistlines?

Whenever I hear about the obesity epidemic our nation (and now our churches) is facing, I think about cortisol and anxiety.  I think about all the news stories and media sensation that is meant to frighten and anger us.  I think about how all this stuff invades our congregations, and I wonder if the church has the capability to turn to Jesus and heed His words?  Judging from the numbers, we aren't doing such a good job. 

Maybe it's time we rethink just what we are doing.