Are Religious People Happier?

[The Devil Inside]

ill answer the thread's question first:
i believe that "good ol' fashioned church going folks are happier than non-theists. there are alot of good reasons for this though, and alot of them have already been given. i think it boils down to the fact that these folks have a sense of security about something they dont have concrete knowledge of: death and afterdeath. also, the word "religious" applies to all sorts of folks. atheists are "religious" after a fashion. i believe that if a person has something to hold onto with their brains (like religion), and that something is a large part of their life, that person will always be more content.

now for something completely different:

You are nobody to tell me what to do and what to think or speak.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam are used for controlling individuals into obedient masses, the key factor in them is fear, the reasons for that control have always been the same and they've always been political whatever the good intentions of Jesus or some other philosophers were.

you have no true knowledge of contemporary judaism, if you honestly think this. i am jewish, and i do not attend synagogue. i do not contribute to a temple of any kind. so how am i being controlled?
you speak out of ignorance, with broad sweeping gestures.

 

[Avatar]

i do not contribute to a temple of any kind. so how am i being controlled?

You believe in what you are told by the jewish legends and other texts. You act out of that belief, thus your consciousness and actions are being controlled to an extent.
Maybe and probably not so much as a temple goer and head basher.

you speak out of ignorance, with broad sweeping gestures.

Or maybe I spent quite some years researching religions till some 6 years ago. But that means nothing, if you wish to think so.
Have you no fear of upsetting your god? Or maybe you like to bend over. Y'know, 10 commandments and all that.

 

[The Devil Inside]

first off, i consider it extremely rude to mock someone's beliefs as you did in the above post.

i am not controlled by anything or anyone except my own common sense. you are ignorant of contemporary judaism, or you wouldnt have made such a statement.

no, i do not fear upsetting my "god". i do not have a "god". if the infinite could be angered by my actions, that would give me power over it. if i have power over it, i am above it (which i obviously am not).

im not sure what kind of reaction you want to get by asking me if i am a sodomist, but it is extremely childish, and quite frankly it does not belong on this forum.

and for your information, i am a noahide jew. i live by seven laws, not ten.
good job finding who the subject of your insults was before lumping him/her into a self created group.

grow up.

 

[Avatar]

first off, i consider it extremely rude to mock someone's beliefs as you did in the above post.

I don't care what you consider or don't.

i am not controlled by anything or anyone except my own common sense. you are ignorant of contemporary judaism, or you wouldnt have made such a statement.

Sure, sure, I have no idea, speak on.

no, i do not fear upsetting my "god". i do not have a "god"

Well, then you are not a jew. Jews have a god, Jahve or whatever you spell it in your country. Or maybe you follow some new age sect?

if i have power over it, i am above it (which i obviously am not).

Of course you are. All gods are creations of man representing some or all dynamics of this universe in simbolic forms in order for those to be easier understood.
Your problem in judaism though is that you are stuck in the metaphor and don't see what that metaphor transcends.

im not sure what kind of reaction you want to get by asking me if i am a sodomist, but it is extremely childish, and quite frankly it does not belong on this forum

Just an expression used to portray sheepish obedience and pleasure from abuse nothing to do with sodomy.

and for your information, i am a noahide jew. i live by seven laws, not ten.

Ah, just like I guessed, a sectant. Plan to nail yourself to a cross too?

good job finding who the subject of your insults was before lumping him/her into a self created group.

My subject? A deformed man messed in his mind, whatever he calls himself to be makes no difference.

grow up.

Sure thing, honey, but it seems that you don't like S&M

 

[The Devil Inside]

1. then you wont care that i consider you a self righteous, ignorant ass.
2. thanks for your permission
3. i am a noahide jew. the fact that you dont understand this very important facet of judaism says that you know nothing of contemporary judaism. stop spreading your non-informed "facts" around, fool.
4. refer to #3.
5. childish, and not appropriate.
6. i am a gentile that converted to judaism. thats a noahide jew. you obviously have done NO research on the subject. christ was NOT a noahide jew.
7. i was the subject of your insults. or was the statement too hard for you to follow?
8. i am NOT your honey.

dont bother responding. i am not interested in your ill-informed brand of hate.

 

[Avatar]

Relax, sweet bug, I'm just playing with your head. Rawr, I like this S&M with you, jew.

 

[hug-a-tree]

Why should I be sadder than those believing in their illusionous fantasies?
As I stated before: I'm fascinated of how this universe works, disintegration is a vital part of that.
For example, the absolute majority of the atoms on this planet are the same as when the planet was formed some 4.5 billion years ago, if it weren't for rearrangment of atoms it would all still be boiling rock, water vapour and lava, now the same atoms have assembled into forests, rivers, and all life that you see and will never see. And it's possible that some part of your body is of atoms that were a part of a t-rex. If stuff didn't change, atoms didn't rearrange, nothing would be as it is, no stars, no Earth, no life and no you. Humans are made of nuclear waste products of "dead" stars. Death must be, those who wish to live over all are egoists consciously or unconsciously against this universe, nature and all future generations.

I'm content with all of the existance. No fears, no sadness, no longing.
Are christians?

No, I mean sure Religion has some ties to it that might make some people unhappy, or whatever. My dad says that after he left the church he's never been so happy because of all the guilt he's been keeping for saying the lords name in vain and lieing and so on...There is a lot of guilt I guess, and that can bring some people down.
Heaven is supposed to be like paradise, so of course most Christians believe that they are going to heaven...Even though the gateway to hell is supposedly wide...
Anyway, we need the guilt I guess to keep us on track. Like today, when you were a child your parents would say "if you make straight A's then I'll take you out for ice cream" Or something like that. There is a price to pay in order to go to heaven, I suppose. And I guess we should feel bad if we break the rules, and yes maybe Christians aren't as happy because there all the time wondering if there winning the approval of God.
Atheist don't have to worry about thier after life so much because they don't have anything to worry about. Maybe people who aren't religious are happier. It's hard to say though.
I mean I do know some really happy Christians, their all the time smiling. But maybe it's just because they want to win approve of God and there not really that happy...That's real hard to say whose happier. I can see why either one would be happy/unhappy.

 

[Baron Max]

Why should I be sadder than those believing in their illusionous fantasies? ... I'm content with all of the existance. No fears, no sadness, no longing. Are christians?

Well, again, Avatar, we're not talking about you in particular or any other, single individual.

I'm trying to ask about your experiences with friends, acquintances, schoolmates, etc. Sure there are many who wouldn't conform to the norms. But, in general, taking everyone as a group ...I think religious people are happier than non-religious people.

And, by the way, I'm pretty amazed that you have no fears, no sadness and no longing. As I see it, that pretty much puts you outside the realm of even being human! ...don't it? Those "things" that you don't have, are actually part of the definition of being human.

Baron Max

 

[hug-a-tree]

Yeah, that's true.

 

[The Devil Inside]

avatar is obviously above us all.
isnt that obvious?

 

[ggazoo]

Since ignorance is a bliss, I guess religious people are happy- happily ignorant.

Religious people can say the same thing about atheists.

 

[geeser]

but ggazoo 99.9% of atheist come from a theist background therefore cannot be ignorant,
so it cannot be said of atheists.

 

[Cris]

Moderator comment -

People - enough with the ad hominem attacks - stick with attacking/debating the issues not the people.

 

[Baron Max]

Really, .....I think y'all are taking this topic WAAAAAAAAAAAY out of any sensible idea of it's basics. I/we don't care WHY religious people are happy or not, or whether they're dumber than a box of rocks; ditto for athiests. I'm simply talking about people being happy or happier. It has nothing to do with which religion or faith; it has nothing to do with where they are or how they live.

And I mean that question to be taken "in YOUR experience" ...your friends, your acquaintances, your family, your friends' families, etc.

.....Are religious people happier than non-religious people? ...IN YOUR EXPERIENCE. It seems to me that that is a YES or NO answer ....so how in hell did this become a personal attacking thread?????

Baron Max

 

[SVRP]

Of two groups of people - one group religious, one group non-religious; of equal status in the community; with equal wealth; with equal intelligence ...is the religious group happier than the non-religious group?

It's been my 60-some years of observations that religious people are happier than the non-religious people. But let's face it, I don't know all that many people of the world! So the question still stands unanswered.

Actually the question has been studied by university surveys. What they have found is, considering all else equal (status, wealth, intelligence, etc.), the religious group will live longer than the non-religious group.

Another study on the various cultures that live in the United States found that the people who were happier and more content with their lives were the Amish people, a religious sect in the state of Pennsylvania.

In these studies they were not only analyzing who was happier but who was also less stressful.

IMHO, stress is a killer.

 

[Medicine*Woman]

Really, .....I think y'all are taking this topic WAAAAAAAAAAAY out of any sensible idea of it's basics. I/we don't care WHY religious people are happy or not, or whether they're dumber than a box of rocks; ditto for athiests. I'm simply talking about people being happy or happier. It has nothing to do with which religion or faith; it has nothing to do with where they are or how they live.

And I mean that question to be taken "in YOUR experience" ...your friends, your acquaintances, your family, your friends' families, etc.

.....Are religious people happier than non-religious people? ...IN YOUR EXPERIENCE. It seems to me that that is a YES or NO answer ....so how in hell did this become a personal attacking thread?????

*************
M*W: IN MY EXPERIENCE, I've never been happier in my life since I've been an atheist. It's like all questions and doubts come together. When I was a christian, and I was a believing christian, everybody I knew had problems, including me. The game plan was that we had a telephone prayer network. When somebody had a 'problem,' we would call our telephone prayer network and pray for that person's particular problem. In reality, it was a telephone gossip network. The calls would procede, and the faithful would then pray for the person with the problem. Eventually, everyone in the church knew who had a problem. Gossip traveled like a wildfire. There was no peace nor happiness within! It was a 'talk about your neighbor gossip fest.'

Atheism is different. I've learned so much more as an atheist. There is no one telling me what to believe or who to believe. I have peace in the fact that I've tried christianity and it failed, failed tremendously!

There is no god. To believe otherwise is fruitless, but its the ONLY way to know the truth.

 

[PsychoticEpisode]

It's tough to be happy when Gods are always pissed off. Is there at least one happy god out there, one that doesn't have a problem with what he/she created? All these gods need to go to anger management classes. Its only a false happiness when your god is constantly threatening your very existence. I think most Christians feel they'll be happier once they're dead, as strange as that may sound. They're happy to have that chance.

Remember...... Eternal happiness awaits those who use free will the way God wants you to.

 

[ggazoo]

I don't know if religious people are happier or not, but it sure seems that way. From my experience, most religious folk are some of the nicest people that you'd want to meet. And most (not all) atheists that I've met are bitter and cynical people.

 

[Lerxst]

I know I'd be happier with the comforts of religion.

I don't know about you, but I have way, way, way more things I want to do than I am going to be able to finish in the next 30-odd years I have before I am going to die.

And yet you think I am supposed to sit here and say, "yeah, death is fine, I don't care...it's just nature's way...nothing to be depressed about..."? Bullshit.

I don't want to die. It is not a fear of pain, it is that I do not wish my consciousness to end. I have a profound, deep sense of aversion to this. All this work, all this learning, just as I am starting to hit my stride and acquire some wisdom and see my kids acquire wisdom, then... nothing....? Places I will never get to see? Scientific discoveries of the future I will never know about? And I am not supposed to be bothered by that? Screw that. I'm bothered.

Remember Batty in Bladerunner? "I want more life, fucker." This is totally natural, and it is, as far as I am concerned, the single, overriding concern to us as humans.

 

[Lerxst]

I'll give you something else to think about:

About ten years ago, when I was very atheistic, the following event occured:

My son who was maybe five at the time, had started having horrible nightmares and would wake up screaming "I don't want to die! I don't want to die!" Now here is my wife and I (she was and is an atheist) trying to comfort our child.

The following is running through my mind: what do I say? "You are not going to die"? No, that would be lying to him,. He is going to die someday. Okay, I'll tell him "You are not going to die anytime soon"? No, that doesn't sound good at all...

What did I come up with? Nothing, really, just a lame "It's going to be all right..."

A religious parent has more tools at his disposal to deal with this.

It sure made me feel like shit as a parent.