A recent study shows a significant relationship between being a member of certain Christian denominations and being obese. The “fattest” Christian denominations are Baptists, Pentecostals and Catholics.

“The study tracked about 2,800 religious Americans of various denominations for eight years.” Sociology professor Kenneth E. Ferraro, a leader of the research, was surprised by the results.

“We usually think of religion as contrasting negative behaviors,” Ferraro said. But “Baptists, as well as most fundamentalist groups, place great emphasis on separating the mind or soul from the body,” which may lead to over-eating.

The study found a significant correlation between obesity and people who use religious media, such as television, radio and magazines. These “couch potato saints,” as the study calls them, tend to be less active and often watch “lots of obese religious leaders on TV,” according to Ferraro.

Not all religions promote obesity, according to the study. Denominations that stress physical health show low levels of obesity, which seems logical. Examples are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Seventh-day Adventists. The study also showed a very low percentage of obese Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists in the U.S.

The obvious question I have now is: how does this information apply to pagans? More than one commenter has noticed that neo-pagans tend to be overweight. I am overweight as are the majority of pagans I know. Maybe we have something in common with Baptists: we tend to “live in our heads” and separate the physical from the spiritual.

Or is there more to it than that? Which is cause and which is affect? Are we attracted to certain religions because of personality traits we have that also relate to obesity?