Does religion make you happier, or does it simply amplify what you already have?
Dr. Edward Diener, a psychologist who has studied happiness in various cultures, believes that those who have a belief system are happier. He may be right.
Religion has two important things going for it that can add to personal happiness. The first is a sense of community built among those with the same belief system. Out of this community comes a social connection that can be helpful and supportive in many ways. It is a positive sense of belonging we all seem to look for in our lives.
The second is a firm conviction that you're not alone in life. The idea that there is a loving, caring God to whom you can go for guidance, coupled with the belief that life doesn't end after death, is comforting. This can add to your happiness. It can create personal happiness, successful living, and individual growth.
Religion can be good for you. If you look at people who truly believe in their faith and a benevolent God, you will find those who see themselves as worthy of happiness. God loves them, what could be better than that? They generally attract like-minded individuals into their lives because that is what they are subconsciously looking for. They don't allow themselves to be made to feel less than what they know they are worth. Their religion confirms who they are and what they achieve in life. Happiness is a by-product of faith.
But my friend and colleague Rabbi Ben Berenbaum cautions that religion can also be bad for you: "If you had a religious experience that made you feel miserable and fearful then religion affects your happiness in adverse ways. You can't feel a strong connection to a punishing God."
This statement is seconded by Bill Taylor, an Episcopal priest, who adds, "Religious experience is everything. While religion doesn't guarantee you'll be happy, a good one can be a catalyst that ups the odds for happiness in life; a bad one has little value."
The belief in a higher power does seem to be a happiness factor for many people. We go on spiritual searches to find the right match for our needs. Perhaps that is why some people are willing to change belief systems. We are looking for a feeling of belonging and peace that is comforting as well as comfortable.
A constant factor in one's personal happiness is the achievement of one's goals. Religion is a great help in this instance because it helps one to feel that they are not alone in their quest. There is help and hope available from someone or something greater than yourself. It takes the worry out of making decisions when you know that a powerful force is looking out for you.
Can you be happy even if you're not religious? Yes. As Bill Taylor said, religion doesn't guarantee happiness. Happiness is created from both inside and outside forces in your life. Successfully combining both is the key.
Yet during the days leading up to Passover and Easter, a sense of the peace that can lead to happiness seems to follow those people who have strong beliefs. Maybe religion doesn't make you happy, but perhaps it does enhance what happiness you do have. The connection seems to affirm this.
To read more from Kristen Houghton, peruse her articles at www.kristenhoughton.com and visit her Keys to Happiness blog.
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http://sometimesjean.blogspot.com/search/label/Buddhism
Happiness has also been a big part of my life, however, I resist the notion happiness comes from beer or a religious organization.
In my search for happiness, it all made more sense to me when I read this in "21st Century Science and Health" a modern version of Mary Baker Eddy's book discussing God, religion, and science, "Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all humankind to share it."
True happiness is felt when it originates in Love and is shared. A drunk, or a fundamental religionist really never share. They only want more, more beer or more converts.
Experience has taught me that when I am loving, and share that love, happiness is felt. And, this sharing has frequently happened in church.
Some do make a community - and compassionate ones - but unfortunately most of religion is about how we are right and "they" are wrong. Not a recipe for world harmony now, is it?
See just how deluded our popular standards are? Such standards are "peddler" value. That is, they are what people who are selling something tell us they can sell us. Snake oil is snake oil, whatever the packaging. Now, how about "authenticity"? Notice that is not something anyone can buy, like the proverbial "stairway to heaven." It must be earned.
Happiness? It's all relative...
I think you can have faith or fact, but not both.
Faith requires no evidence and ignores any evidence that doesn’t bolster the faith.
Faith is easy.
Facts require adjusting personal views to the facts, rather than ignoring or making the facts fit beliefs. Facts don’t need a warm fuzzy feeling about them to be facts. Refusing to believe in a fact doesn’t make it any less of a fact.
Facts are hard.
As to who is happier? If you like things easier, faith will give that to you and you will be happy. If you like facts, things will be a little harder, but there is joy in a life uncluttered by dogma. Every day is the wonder of discovery.
Whether or not it does, that doesn't really mean you should drink more of it.
Second, there was the confusion. Biblical happenings defied logic and ignored reality and yet were true? I was told, "God works in mysterious ways. You must make yourself as a little child and BELIEVE. Faith above all else." Yet my doubts were tearing me up inside.
Then there was prayer. I never saw prayer do anything positive except to make the prayer feel better about himself or herself.
30 years ago, I divested myself of the old superstitions. I shed them like a too-tight jacket that had been restricting my movement. I felt such relief! Such freedom from fear when I realized that death is just death, morality does not depend on god, and I was not the one who was crazy.
Now, instead of praying, I just DO. Help where help is needed and save time and wear and tear on the knees by skipping all that futile god-begging. Use that 10% that used to pay the preacher to support education and women's rights. Use that time you save by skipping church to tutor kids who need help with reading and lead a weekly BINGO game at the nursing home.
If you think religion makes people happy, you may have not talked to enough people. How about talking to those who have experienced religion and then left it. Ask them whether they are happier with or without religion. You might be surprised.
In my 20's I read a lot about the various forms of early Christianity, many of which were very mystical and far more compassionate than the one that "survived". The mystics were run out of the church - no room for communing with God directly.
Notice how well so many "Christian" denominations are suited to fascism: go along with the prevailing powers, no matter how cruel or unjust; accept your slavery and work well for your master; YOUR reward is in the next world [your rulers get theirs HERE]; don't look at facts, think for your self or reason - just believe; and so on.
The fact that the RCC was allied with monarchy allowed it to survive. The bureaucrats scored a big one there.
Also, Celia Dunn Murray in her book Reiligion that harms, Religion that heals, analyzes the devastation to the psyche from a fundy upbringing. It's the only book of it's kind that I have found so far, but I think this is a topic that needs to be examined more deeply.
Most people who are happy in their beliefs feel that a God of total love does not punish. As the rabbi I interviewed for the article said, "You can't feel a strong connection to a punishing God."
It would be nice to know for certain that we were going to a great place after we die. But the problem is - nobody actually knows this. Everyone believes differently, and there is little solid evidence one way or the other. It takes a lot of strength and courage to embrace mystery and accept the unknown. And even if it could be proven that religion brings happiness (which I would dispute), that has no bearing on its truth.
Uh, false dichotomy. Can also make you way more miserable.
For example, huge numbers of LGBT children commit suicide each year, under the not so tender teachings of the chrisitain "faiths". These children, firmly ensnared within the "community" that calls them abominations and spits on them, are surely hardly made happy by their religion. Their only path to happiness is to escape from this religion.
Of course, the high suicide rates of LGBT children at the hands of the "faith" probably DOES make the evangelicals way happier. Nothing like killing kids to really get your happiness quotient up.
But, to me, anything that causes mass death of children, can't be redeemed. It is worse than worthless, it is deadly harmful.