Are religious people happier than atheists ?

Alright, another religious thread, folks. :)

Do you think that religious people, regardless of religions/beliefs they adhere to, are generally happier than theists ?

I'm a former Catholic, but I abandoned my faith a couple years ago since I dont see God help me when I have sufferings. Now when I think about my own death, Im scare and sad because I dont have anywhere to go after I died. On the other hand, religious people seem to less fearful about death because they belive they go to heaven to live with God or Buddha.

Most religious people I've known were the happiest, nicest folks I've ever met.

I think this is common sense, but for example, some Christians believe that God loves you, that you go to heaven after you die, and that God is in control. I think those concepts would probably make people happier.

Not necessarily. Just believing in a God or an afterlife doesn't suddenly make you more capable of dealing with the issues of day to day life any more reasonably.

Now, being at peace with your place in the universe, having a thought-out and practiced understanding of what you believe that gives meaning to your actions can make you happier in the long run, which is what a strong religious faith will do, but it's not impossible to find a place in the world as an atheist, either.

I know both Atheist's and people who are religious. Both seem happy to me. I think a person's happiness comes down to their own life, experiences, and their own personal decisions.

Most of the satanists I've known were the happiest, nicest folks I've ever met.

I know both Atheist's and people who are religious. Both seem happy to me. I think a person's happiness comes down to their own life, experiences, and their own personal decisions.

kev_stevens67

Most of the agnostics I've known were the happiest, nicest folks I've ever met.

im athiest, and im pretty happy

not with my life exactly, but in general :P

Most of the hindus I've known were the happiest, nicest folks I've ever met.

Most of the nihilists I've known were the happiest, nicest folks I've ever met.

Yes, we are. God himself fill us with HOLY HAPPINESS every moment of the way. We are so happy and have this inner peace that not I could describe.

Either that or it's the stuff they put in the Holy Water I drink.

I think they did a study a while back, (I believe it was on CNN) that said that religious people were happier than those with no or little faith. Which based on what religions teach is a pretty obvious conclusion.

"Nietzsche believed that man was useless without a God and 'no longer possesses ideals and absolute goals toward which to strive. He has lost all direction and purpose.'"

Yes. I do believe that religious people are generally happier. This has been true in my experience, and it has been confirmed by philosophers and statistics.

Happiness is meaningless.iaosoir

I think they did a study a while back, (I believe it was on CNN) that said that religious people were happier than those with no or little faith. Which based on what religions teach is a pretty obvious conclusion.

ferrari2001

[QUOTE="iaosoir"]Happiness is meaningless.22Toothpicks

If your strictly religious you lead your life by a specific set of rules, not all of which you like but you do it anyway because you get rewarded for following th guidelines. For example: no sex outside marrage if your a christian, you may not like this but its required.

Athiests may tend to make more of life as athiests think that the 80ish years your going to get is all your going to get so you may as well make the most of it.

[QUOTE="22Toothpicks"][QUOTE="iaosoir"]Happiness is meaningless.iaosoir

First of all I'm sorry that you dropped your faith, maybe you'll find it again one day, but that's your business so I digress. Back on topic, I think happiness is sort of objective. It's hard to judge who is more happy. I would however say that religious people, and I mean true religious people, not "I go to church every Sunday" people, have an inner peace that no atheist can really have. It's divine, and when you chose not to have it then that's all there is to it. Atheists can have peace of mind, but believers have peace of soul, and that's the best peace there is.

[QUOTE="iaosoir"][QUOTE="22Toothpicks"] So why not just go ahead and chug that bottle of CLR under your kitchen sink?22Toothpicks

Since I stop following my family's religion strictly. Life has been alot better. Death doesn't scare me it'll just be the same as before I was alive. And I don't have to follow ridiculous standards and laws of my former religion. I still loosely believe in some form of God or Higher being just not the christian one.

[QUOTE="22Toothpicks"][QUOTE="iaosoir"] I see no reason in doing such a thing.iaosoir

I know both Atheist's and people who are religious. Both seem happy to me. I think a person's happiness comes down to their own life, experiences, and their own personal decisions.

kev_stevens67

Bingo. I was very happy when I was a practicing Catholic and I'm just as happy now as a non-believer.

[QUOTE="iaosoir"]

[QUOTE="22Toothpicks"] If happiness is meaningless then why even bother going through life?22Toothpicks

Bad generalization. Both religious people and atheists can be either happy or depressed. Their beliefs are not indicative of their happiness. Also, the Buddha doesn't exist anymore, and was just a human.foxhound_fox

1. I know both religious and atheists can and are happy and depressed but IMO, religious people are generallyhappie atheists.

2. If I'm correct,according to [Mahayana]Buddhism, the Buddha died but he still live in certainrealm.

I'm religious myself, but my happiness is not directly correlated to my religion. If I'm doing good things and people in my life are doing well, I tend to feel happy...

I'm happy as I am withoutbeing Atheist, part of a religion/cult/sect or without having to subscribe myself to this idea of having a personal relationship with some persona that most people call "god".

Guess ignorance is a bless then

I always thought someone's happiest is dependent on 2 factors. One's own persepctive and their relationship with God. You can be completely in love with God but if your perspective on life is always on the negatives then your obvisouly not going to be happy. Vice Versa: If someone has a persepctive of happyness but believes he/she can do without God or not believe in God etc, they in the long run they will not be happy. Of course there are plenty of atheists that say their happy but who the hell cares how good their life is. All that matters is where you spend the rest of eternity. Life is short so might as well dedicate it to Gpd :)

Btw, I'm christian

All that matters is where you spend the rest of eternity. Life is short so might as well dedicate it to GpdTheStarM4n

Since I stop following my family's religion strictly. Life has been alot better. Death doesn't scare me it'll just be the same as before I was alive. And I don't have to follow ridiculous standards and laws of my former religion. I still loosely believe in some form of God or Higher being just not the christian one.

Tetrarch9

@Foxhound

One word, Love.

[QUOTE="Tetrarch9"]

Since I stop following my family's religion strictly. Life has been alot better. Death doesn't scare me it'll just be the same as before I was alive. And I don't have to follow ridiculous standards and laws of my former religion. I still loosely believe in some form of God or Higher being just not the christian one.

TheStarM4n

Im not catholic, but i hope you dont describe it as the corrupt form. As opposed the devorce version.

@Foxhound One word, Love.TheStarM4n

Catholics teach that you earn your ticket to heaven by doing good works. Besides the fact that an entire book of the bible is dedicated to the correction of thta teaching, John 14:6 says, I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except through me" (said by Jesus). The bible clearly states that only through faith in Jesus christ as your Lord and saviour and his sacrafice are you being allowed to enter heaven. Of course, if you have fath but our constantly living in a life of sin which is simply defined as rebellion towards God then thats not faith either. Catholics also believe in idolatry. The worshiping of idols like statues. They also believe Mary, the women that gave birth to Jesus, is some sort of god. This is why Catholiscsm is corrupt.

Okay, what is "love"?foxhound_fox

[spoiler] couldn't resist :P [/spoiler]

Catholics teach that you earn your ticket to heaven by doing good works. Besides the fact that an entire book of the bible is dedicated to the correction of thta teaching, John 14:6 says, I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except through me" (said by Jesus). The bible clearly states that only through faith in Jesus christ as your Lord and saviour and his sacrafice are you being allowed to enter heaven. Of course, if you have fath but our constantly living in a life of sin which is simply defined as rebellion towards God then thats not faith either. Catholics also believe in idolatry. The worshiping of idols like statues. They also believe Mary, the women that gave birth to Jesus, is some sort of god. This is why Catholiscsm is corrupt.

TheStarM4n

Can I ask you religion? we would have some sort of view point then. You seem to be religious, does your faith dictate that you should hide your faith?

[QUOTE="TheStarM4n"]@Foxhound One word, Love.foxhound_fox