If it makes you happy..

[Gob]

A strong correlation exists between religiosity and personal happiness, according to a new study by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture.

The study found that people who attend religious services on a weekly basis are nearly twice as likely to describe themselves as “very happy” (45%) than people who never attend (28%). Conversely, those who never worship are twice as likely to say they are “very unhappy” (4%) as those who attend services weekly (2%).

Building on prior research, this broad survey of American adults comprised a representative sample of 15,738 Americans between the ages of 18 and 60.

The study indicated that not only religious service attendance, but self-reported “religiosity” and religious “affiliation” are also linked with happiness levels. Yet of the three indicators, service attendance has the highest correlation to increased happiness. The study showed that higher levels of church attendance “predict higher life satisfaction,” even after accounting for how important religious faith is in people’s lives.

The correlation between religiosity and happiness is clear, but explanations of the connection and possible causal relationship are less clear. One theory suggests that the social support that religious communities can provide may be a key factor contributing to increased happiness, since “religious Americans are more apt to be involved in their communities.” Yet even here, the study found “that those who attend religious services often are happier than their peers with similar levels of involvement in the community.”

These statistics tying happiness to religiosity have held true over time. A similar survey conducted ten years ago generated similar results, leading to the same conclusions. When the General Social Survey asked a sample of Americans in 2004, “Would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” religious people were more than twice as likely as the non-religious to say they were “very happy” (43%-21%). The secular people, or those who never attend worship services, were overwhelmingly more likely to say they were not too happy (21%-8%).

http://www.breitbart.com/national-secur ... udy-shows/

[RayThom]

I don't think anyone could argue that "inclusion" (in anything) is not uplifting and rewarding. Being a part of something larger than oneself makes sense to me. Humans are almost always happier when sharing thoughts and ideas with their like-minded peers. However, nothing dictates that oneness and spirituality can only be achieved by religious experience.

I have a strong suspicion that the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture is somewhat -- if not totally -- faith based and, as such, has a christian agenda to promote.

Much ado about nothing.

[Crackpot]

The brietbart link in and of itself is suspicious.

[Guinevere]

I figured this for another thread about temazepalm....

[BoSoxGal]

Whatever the source of this article, I've seen that general statistic reiterated in the press for years - studies show that those with religious/spiritual faith tend to be happier than those without.

[Big RR]

I think that's probably true BSG, but I'm unsure about things like attending worship or affiliating with a particular denomination being a part of it. One might well be religious or spiritual and do neither, and I would think they could be just as happy.

Likewise, I think people in religious groups like Heaven's Gate or People's Temple might have thought they were happy, but I doubt they could have had a genuine feeling or thought regarding anything because of the others in the group.

[dgs49]

Kids who have parents who establish clear boundaries are much happier than "spoiled" kids. This religious phenomenon is the same thing.

[Scooter]

Whatever the source of this article, I've seen that general statistic reiterated in the press for years - studies show that those with religious/spiritual faith tend to be happier than those without.

Well, self-reported "happiness" is a rather ephemeral concept, isn't it? Particularly if people are joining such entities looking to be told what to do, and those entities tell them that belonging should make them feel happy.

[RayThom]

Brainwashing 101: self-fulfilling prophecy.

Join us and you will be happy. We are the true "entity"... you will be assimilated.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Also, to avoid a logical fallacy (post hoc and all that), why assume that it's the religion that results in people being happy?

It's also possible that happy people become religious. No?

[RayThom]

... It's also possible that happy people become religious. No?

It's a well known fact that naturally happy people are the least religious. They don't have anyone at a pulpit dictating what or how they should feel.

Did I ever mention that my PA car tag reads "GUILTY"? When I'm ask why I tell them I was raised catholic. Anyway, when people around me detected I was being unduly happy I was told it was gas and they'd offer me Beano to correct my mismanaged euphoria in order to get me back on track with God.

I fart in your general direction!

[BoSoxGal]

Whatever the source of this article, I've seen that general statistic reiterated in the press for years - studies show that those with religious/spiritual faith tend to be happier than those without.

Well, self-reported "happiness" is a rather ephemeral concept, isn't it? Particularly if people are joining such entities looking to be told what to do, and those entities tell them that belonging should make them feel happy.

I should have clarified; it's my opinion that most religious people are 'happier' because they have their heads in the sand and/or are so focused on the afterlife that they can better tolerate devastation in this one.

I have on a regular basis wished I still had faith; it's a huge consolation in the face of random awfulness.

[MajGenl.Meade]

... It's also possible that happy people become religious. No?

It's a well known fact that naturally happy people are the least religious. They don't have anyone at a pulpit dictating what or how they should feel.

Did I ever mention that my PA car tag reads "GUILTY"? When I'm ask why I tell them I was raised catholic. Anyway, when people around me detected I was being unduly happy I was told it was gas and they'd offer me Beano to correct my mismanaged euphoria in order to get me back on track with God.

I fart in your general direction!

Dictating what or how they should feel" indeed. I am sorry for your childhood. It must have been unpleasant judging by your hurt and cheap insults.

I am sorry that my pointing out that "religious people are happier" is not a valid conclusion from the data described did not meet with your approval, Ray. It's an obvious ad hoc propter hoc fallacy which could as easily be reversed if one cares to do so. That is not to suggest that either is correct. Or incorrect.

Fortunately, my head isn't in the sand (BSG) and I'm far from focused on the afterlife - more on good wine actually. Why pick on Christians with those two accusations? Seems to me that applies to almost everyone. Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless. That's the ticket.

[BoSoxGal]

Meade, I wish you wouldn't take my every comment about religion and religious people as directed at you and in the most negative light.

President Carter was on the Daily Show last night; whenever I see him I am reminded how much I wish I could have his steadfast faith. I do not mean to imply that I look down on people of faith; I do not. My former priest is someone very dear to me to whom I still look for wisdom.

eta: I also happen to revere the basic teachings of Christ; it's not by accident that my Jesuit legal education launched me into a career in public service, providing access to justice to the poor. So I'm good with all the best essential teachings of Jesus. I just don't buy the son of god resurrection stuff; I'm happy just accepting his human example as a profoundly good one.

[wesw]

well, you have your steadfast feeling of superiority to comfort you bigsky.

from the time I was very young until recently I thought religion was a crutch or a crock. I thought people of faith were either weak or stupid or dishonest. I too longed for the fellowship I saw within the churches, but I could not join them. I felt that entering a church while not believing would be more dishonest than I was willing to be.

I, however, had no idea what faith was. even after I found faith I remember telling someone, "I m not a Christian or anything". turns out I was wrong about that too.

bigsky, if you truly cherish christs' teachings, you will know that much of what he said was in the form of parable and metaphor.

he who has ears, let him hear.

the only way to father is thru Christ, but can you define Christ? can you say with certainty that Christ cannot be more than was revealed to us? can you be sure that Christ has not appeared elsewhere and to others, or that he has not taken other faces or forms?

wes

[MajGenl.Meade]

am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to

C. S. Lewis

[MajGenl.Meade]

it's my opinion that most religious people are 'happier' because they have their heads in the sand and/or are so focused on the afterlife that they can better tolerate devastation in this one.

Meade, I wish you wouldn't take my every comment about religion and religious people as directed at you and in the most negative light

bsg... bsg... I don't take all your comments as directed at me. I simply respond as a religious person based upon my own experience. My head might be up my arse at times, but in the sand it is not.

Now who on earth would think that "most religious people...have their heads in the sand" is at all negative? I can't imagine anyone who'd construe "are so focused on the afterlife that they can better tolerate devastation in this one" as being a little critical!

I was silly to suggest that both comments apply to all manner of humans, religious or not. The first certainly isn't exclusive to "religious people". The second might be but then again, I don't know what "most" religious people think about all day.

It's likely that many or even most people, religious and otherwise, concentrate hard on their own concerns and thus find ways to tolerate the devastation in this life. By 'devastation' I suppose we are both referring to "what humans do to each other"?

[RayThom]

... "Dictating what or how they should feel" indeed. I am sorry for your childhood. It must have been unpleasant judging by your hurt and cheap insults.

Your smugness speaks volumes. Your God will be very proud, I'm sure.

Now, get closer to the screen
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IDIOT!

[MajGenl.Meade]

Thanks, Ray. I feel your pain.

[dgs49]

"It's a well known fact that naturally happy people are the least religious. "

It is a well-known fact that people who type poppycock like this are not very disciplined in their thinking. One could write a fairly good sized pamphlet on the idiocy contained in that one sentence.