Scientists are discovering what believers have known for a long time: the rewards that a religious life can provide. Drawing on a wealth of new evidence, psychologist David DeSteno shows why religious practices and rituals improve emotional and physical well-being. In this "thorough, insightful study" (Publishers Weekly), DeSteno describes how the Apache Sunrise Ceremony makes teenage girls better able to face womanhood, shows how Buddhist meditation reduces hostility and increases compassion, and demonstrates how the Jewish practice of sitting shiva comforts the bereaved.