Ex-professor to discuss religion's effect on mental health

ST. GEORGE - Allen E. Bergin, a retired professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and BYU, will discuss religious influences on mental functioning and moral conduct at the next President's Colleagues of Dixie State University meeting.

The lecture, titled "How Religion May Help or Hurt Mental Health," will take place at noon on Monday in Lecture Hall 156 of Dixie State's Russell C. Taylor Health Science Center, located on Dixie Regional Medical Center's River Road campus, 1526 E. Medical Center Drive. The meeting is free and open to the public.

During his presentation, Bergin will examine positive and negative aspects of both individual spirituality and denominational religiousness.

Raised by a Lutheran mother and Catholic father, Bergin was an agnostic student of physical science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before moving on to social science. He went on to explore spiritual interests for many years and eventually became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He continues to have deep interest in and respect for the diverse array of religious and spiritual traditions.