Reply to: Religion and health: not always good

The author of the letter aims to make explicit, through the evidence represented by the volume of publications, that religious beliefs can be “bad for your health.” We cannot refute such a statement. However, accepting it does not imply refusing the possibility that religion and religiosity act as protective factors. Religion, like other complex social practices, generally does not respect the dichotomies established by the reductions in our masterful ways of thinking.