Religion 'linked to happy life'.

[JAStewart]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7302609.stm

Meh that article can say what it wants, I consider myself an Atheist and I'm a mega happy person with a highly fulfilling, meaningful and productive life. I have a great family, great girlfriend, good prospects (at university) and good friends.

Could this be because I wouldn't want to get rid of religion and therefore do not spend time hating it?

Yours,
A happy Atheist.

 

[jimmygun]

It would be my bet that being a white anglo-saxon male would be seen as a better way to be happy too.

No systemic bigotry against a wasm to keep him at a lower paying dead end job. No restrictions because of gender or race on where he can live. An ingrained good-old-boy system that provides fast-tracking and bars competition.

Add religion to the mix and you get a clique that takes care of its own, provides a social and economic safety net to its members and you have the makings of a sweet existance.

Oh, yeah, the religious are commanded to be happy or else!

 

[NeilC]

Maybe it's because they make everyone else's life worse?

 

[Complexity]

I don't regard living in delusion, even if I were so contemptible that doing so made me happy, living well.

I'll take reality, thank you.

 

[Jekyll]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7302609.stm

Meh that article can say what it wants, I consider myself an Atheist and I'm a mega happy person with a highly fulfilling, meaningful and productive life. I have a great family, great girlfriend, good prospects (at university) and good friends.

It says "Church goers" not "religious people". I imagine you've got basic group dynamics going on there. People provide some emotional support for others, and the severely depressed can't cope with other people so drop out. I wonder if they controlled for this..

 

[Francesca R]

For some reason I felt like quoting this:

"Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult--once we truly understand and accept it--then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters."

 

[Wauthan]

I see. People that are part of a community of likeminded individuals are happier then people who are not part of one. And this was proven through the use of surveys.

I like these forums. I learn something new every day.

 

[Big Les]

Even if true...

You know, it's easy to be happy if your one concern in life is figuring out how much saliva to dribble.

 

[Tricky]

"The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality."
----George Bernard Shaw

 

[Stone Island]

It says "Church goers" not "religious people". I imagine you've got basic group dynamics going on there. People provide some emotional support for others, and the severely depressed can't cope with other people so drop out. I wonder if they controlled for this..

What?

Religious people are better able to cope with shocks such as losing a job or divorce, claims the study presented to a Royal Economic Society conference.
Data from thousands of Europeans revealed higher levels of "life satisfaction" in believers.

Of course, church going is an effective analogue to religious belief, easier to measure, and, I would suspect, highly correlated (if not related by causation).

And the comments from that Terry Sanderson chap seem, to me, to be anti-scientific sour grapes.

In any case, you don't have to believe in the mystery to actually go to a church. I happen to enjoy and find to be extremely stately and beautiful the occasional Catholic Mass and I really get a kick out of the sermons at African-American churches, but I don't necessarily believe what is being said, or I don't agree with the reasons for what they say, i.e., I may agree that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves, but I begin from different premises.

The placebo effect is powerful and wonderful and, I think, is a ripe avenue for further investigation.

 

[joobz]

I see. People that are part of a community of likeminded individuals are happier then people who are not part of one. And this was proven through the use of surveys.

I like these forums. I learn something new every day.

well said.