Last week, scientists determined that praying for bypass surgery patients doesn’t affect the aggregate outcomes. Today, a new study finds that attending religious services weekly increases life span.

What do these studies say about the existence of God? That, of course, depends on your point of view.

Atheists can point to the prayer study and say it’s proof there is no God. Believers can argue that God is not so predictable or simplistic as to be disproven by a study, and that we cannot know how He will respond to prayer. You know, mysterious ways and all.

Daniel Hall, an Episcopal priest and resident in general surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, conducted the “church helps you live longer” study. He did not let theology creep into his scientific paper, but merely presented the statistics and speculated that the social connections provided by religion could be beneficial. I did the same in my story. When I interviewed Hall, however, he offered another view:

“From a theological perspective, I believe that human beings were created to be in a relationship with God,” he said. “We’re wired for that to a certain extent. If we are living our lives in a way that is not fulfilling our ‘created purpose,’ that could have a material manifestation.”

Factor in the power of positive thinking, which has also been shown to increase life span (and which religions tend to foster), and perhaps these studies could be viewed as sources of optimism for people of all beliefs.