Are Religious People Happier? If so, why?

[AliceBC]

I am doing a survey for a research paper (religious practice, wellbeing and life satisfaction) on Survey Monkey- it only takes about 2 minutes and is 10 questions. I will post the results for everyone to see my findings. Thank you everyone!! Alice

[McQ]

I am doing a survey for a research paper (religious practice, wellbeing and life satisfaction) on Survey Monkey- it only takes about 2 minutes and is 10 questions. I will post the results for everyone to see my findings. Thank you everyone!! Alice

Alice, I've removed your link as per forum rules. If you are not here to spam the forum with multiple copies of the same message in five places in your first five posts (as I suspect you are) then you will be allowed to post it after you hit ten messages. However, your multiple messages will not count as five messages, just one.

Please read the forum rules before posting.

Thanks.

Updated version.

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Users who comply with forum rules will graduate to full membership after 10 posts.
Till that time your ability to post is limited to the "Getting to Know You" section of the forum.
It is our hope that this small restriction improves the overall atmosphere of HAF.

Some threads you might find interesting.
Where did you get your username from?
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How to tell your family you are an atheist.*
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*You will need 10 posts before you can add a post to this thread, but you can read it at any time.

[Tank]

I have also deleted her 4 other posts. She's lucky you got the her first McQ. I'd have been a lot less generous.

[Truthseeker]

Spins the pistols replacing them in their respective holsters.  Don't mess with HAF.

[McQ]

I have also deleted her 4 other posts. She's lucky you got the her first McQ. I'd have been a lot less generous.

Yeah, I don't know what came over me to make me be so patient with this one.   
I must be feverish.

[Buddy]

I have also deleted her 4 other posts. She's lucky you got the her first McQ. I'd have been a lot less generous.

Yeah, I don't know what came over me to make me be so patient with this one.   
I must be feverish.

Uh oh. Should I make some hot tea and soup? 

[Tank]

I have also deleted her 4 other posts. She's lucky you got the her first McQ. I'd have been a lot less generous.

Yeah, I don't know what came over me to make me be so patient with this one.   
I must be feverish.

Uh oh. Should I make some hot tea and soup? 

Chicken soup would be the right thing to do!

[Buddy]

Chicken soup would be the right thing to do!

Not to derail, but I made homemade chicken soup with dumplings from scratch last night. Best. Soup. Ever.

[Tank]

Chicken soup would be the right thing to do!

Not to derail, but I made homemade chicken soup with dumplings from scratch last night. Best. Soup. Ever.

I love chicken soup with dumplings. Best I've ever had was at a Jewish restaurant in Chicago.

[Crow]

Chicken soup would be the right thing to do!

Not to derail, but I made homemade chicken soup with dumplings from scratch last night. Best. Soup. Ever.

I love chicken soup with dumplings. Best I've ever had was at a Jewish restaurant in Chicago.

I've always wanted to go to Chicago maybe that should be my next trip abroad.

[Sandra Craft]

Some people say "drunks are happier, but that doesn't make being drunk a good thing".  Personally, I think happiness is mostly a matter of definition.  I've heard any number of Xtians say "why are atheists so angry/bitter/unhappy" about someone who didn't seen the least bit angry/bitter/unhappy to me.  And on the other hand, I've heard some Xtians go on about all the joy and happiness in their life when to me they seem quite miserable, or in need of medication.  In either case, not in a good place. 

[reddevil0126]

Some people say "drunks are happier, but that doesn't make being drunk a good thing".  Personally, I think happiness is mostly a matter of definition.  I've heard any number of Xtians say "why are atheists so angry/bitter/unhappy" about someone who didn't seen the least bit angry/bitter/unhappy to me.  And on the other hand, I've heard some Xtians go on about all the joy and happiness in their life when to me they seem quite miserable, or in need of medication.  In either case, not in a good place. 

I am very sure a lot of christians are really happy.  But, the problem for many of them (not all) is they do not accept the simple fact that we are as happy as they are.  My attitude if they say they are happy, "oh, you are happy, then it's good for you." But their attitude is "that is not all of it because you are missing the most important thing in the life."  They do not seem to accept my way of finding small happy moments on top of the mountain with my family and dogs instead of church, struggling to find meanings in other (life excluding god) sides.  Even though there is no significant difference in what we do (not what we think) to pursue happiness in this world, they simply assume we nonbelievers are not happy because we do not accept the source of happiness, god.  How childish!  (I can definately say not all christians are like that.)

[Truthseeker]

Another difference between a lot of Christians and non-belivers is the honesty of their feelings.  As far as I can tell, most non-believers can experience unhappines genuinely.  There do not seem to be any pretenses of denying those real emotions.  Thus the non-believer in a lot of instances is able to cut through to the essence of the issue causing them pain.  This then enables them to more readily get back in the saddle.  A lot of Christians I know (I used to be one) could not possibly be unhappy, due the fact that they are plugged in to the source of all happiness (Jesus).  To admit unhappiness would mean they are not leaning of the everlasting arm of their savior.  Which would then add tremendous guilt to this concotion of misery.  Still others lay the blame on demons and a need for deliverance ensues.  Subsequent to deliverance they have no choice but to be happy.  But when they are truly unhappy their honest feelings are covered with a veneer of false Christian bravado or peace of mind.  This is where they join the masquerade party and commence with the construction of their own private prison cell of emotional suffering.  All of this because they feel they did not have a choice to be honest about their feelings.

But like reddevil so poignantly expressed, not all Christians suffer this fate.  I also know Christians that do seem to deal with life's turbulence in an honest marture manner.  There are those that truly do find solace during trouibled times in reading their Bible and prayer.  Furthermore I am not promulgating the notion that non-believers have a lock on dealing with unhappiness.  But I do think in a lot of cases they have less obstabcles to manuever around in order to see the symptom of their issue clearly and deal with it appropriately.   

[Sandra Craft]

But like reddevil so poignantly expressed, not all Christians suffer this fate.  I also know Christians that do seem to deal with life's turbulence in an honest marture manner.  There are those that truly do find solace during trouibled times in reading their Bible and prayer.  Furthermore I am not promulgating the notion that non-believers have a lock on dealing with unhappiness.  But I do think in a lot of cases they have less obstabcles to manuever around in order to see the symptom of their issue clearly and deal with it appropriately.   

It's never a black or white, all or nothing situation, but I would agree that atheists tend to have one less obstacle to deal with than some Xtians in not feeling they have to play to an audience, to "fake it until you make it".  I used to hate getting that advice back when I was trying to be religious. 

Tied into this, I've wondered if atheists have the benefit of fewer expectations, or less feeling of entitlement, to happiness just because they've crossed this "t" or dotted that "i"?  I know as an atheist who looks on life as essentially arbitrary, I never get upset or confused about such issues as "why bad things happen to good people", but I've noticed the religious struggle with it a lot, even write books about it.  That's a source of unhappiness that I don't share, but maybe it's just me.

[Siz]

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. — George Bernard Shaw