Are theists happier then atheists?

[Nepenthe]

Ya, blah, blah, blah...whatever.

You win.
:clap

What study is this taken from? Links? I think you are just pulling this out of your a** personally. Like I said earlier, having a good social network is a way for people to share emotions, sadness happiness whatever. Feeling like you belong someplace, and you have people to fall back on, tends to make people a little happier. Theists generally go to church, so they tend to have an automatic social network. Hence happiness. I have a great social network, I'm plenty happy, in fact I don't think I could be much happier than I am now. I am very happy with my belief system though too, maybe people are less happy until they find that?

I'm an atheist and I'm plenty happy as well- but my personal anecdote as well as yours isn't important. Statistically, believers are happier than non-believers. Yes, the correlation may have more to do with church attendance than actual theistic belief, though that's uncertain. I agree with you that,

"having a good social network is a way for people to share emotions, sadness happiness whatever. Feeling like you belong someplace, and you have people to fall back on, tends to make people a little happier. Theists generally go to church, so they tend to have an automatic social network. Hence happiness."​

I never disputed that, nor even mentioned it actually.
The studies I was referring to were these two: one from the Paris School of Economics, and the other more recent sociological study from last March by Harvard.

Instead of accusing me of "pulling it out of my ***" maybe next time a simple "hey, do you have any links to that study?" would be a bit more conducive to, you know, actual dialogue. Ya think?

 

[Bware]

You win.
:clap

I'm an atheist and I'm plenty happy as well- but my personal anecdote as well as yours isn't important. Statistically, believers are happier than non-believers. Yes, the correlation may have more to do with church attendance than actual theistic belief, though that's uncertain. I agree with you that,

"having a good social network is a way for people to share emotions, sadness happiness whatever. Feeling like you belong someplace, and you have people to fall back on, tends to make people a little happier. Theists generally go to church, so they tend to have an automatic social network. Hence happiness."​

I never disputed that, nor even mentioned it actually.
The studies I was referring to were these two: one from the Paris School of Economics, and the other more recent sociological study from last March by Harvard.

Instead of accusing me of "pulling it out of my ***" maybe next time a simple "hey, do you have any links to that study?" would be a bit more conducive to, you know, actual dialogue. Ya think?

You are right, and sorry about that I'm at work dealing with things here, didn't mean to snap at you. I stand corrected it seems, I hadn't seen those studies.

 

[Jeremiah]

You win.
:clap

I'm an atheist and I'm plenty happy as well- but my personal anecdote as well as yours isn't important. Statistically, believers are happier than non-believers. Yes, the correlation may have more to do with church attendance than actual theistic belief, though that's uncertain. I agree with you that,

"having a good social network is a way for people to share emotions, sadness happiness whatever. Feeling like you belong someplace, and you have people to fall back on, tends to make people a little happier. Theists generally go to church, so they tend to have an automatic social network. Hence happiness."​

I never disputed that, nor even mentioned it actually.
The studies I was referring to were these two: one from the Paris School of Economics, and the other more recent sociological study from last March by Harvard.

Instead of accusing me of "pulling it out of my ***" maybe next time a simple "hey, do you have any links to that study?" would be a bit more conducive to, you know, actual dialogue. Ya think?

"You win."

I was not going for a win, there was just no point in continuing. Everything I wanted to say I already said and I also wanted to let you know just what I thought of your post.

 

[Jeremiah]

theists spend their lives worshiping and living their lives to please god because they are promised another life while atheists realize that you only have one life so you better live it to the fullest

"so you better live it to the fullest"

How does one exactly live life to the fullest?

 

[Jeremiah]

You didn't say it was what you believed, you said it was what you knew. There's a difference. Perhaps your problem is that I was paying too much attention.

Read this....

Noted, but that is how I believe and I don't really care about knowing for sure; I know well enough.

Regardless though, you were overacting to a colloquial remark in the first place.

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

The wikipedia entry on Happiness has a section for correlation with religious involvement: Happiness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I found an interesting small essay. Note the passage about the famous study done with psilocybin that induced religious experiences with significant lasting sense of wellbeing: Nielsen's Psyc of Religion: Religion and Happiness

There was another study into psilocybin, religious experience and sense of wellbeing conducted in 2006. Again the findings were very signficant: Psilocybin Study Hints at Rebirth of Hallucinogen Research | Wired Science | Wired.com

Theists may generally be mildly happier than atheists but y'all pwned by the psychonauts!

Whoop! Yeah! Home team! :cheer:

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

A common argument for belief in gods is that it is fuzzy. Which is all well and good, but are theist really happier then atheist?

I don't think of happiness as a good judge of the truth on this subject.

"It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question."
— John Stuart Mill

 

[Shia Islam]

I know that there are some researches that may support the view of atheists being happier then theists. However I think that the whole story told by research says the opposite:

Here are some examples:

1. Research shows believers more stress-free than atheists

Research shows believers more stress-free than atheists

2.Atheists Are More Likely to Cheat

eHarmony Says Atheists Are More Likely to Cheat - Think Atheist

3. Atheists are less likely to volunteer and give less to charity

American atheists appear to be less likely to vote and volunteer and give less to charity «

4. Atheists Less Likely to “Do Good”

Canadian Poll Claims Atheists Less Likely to “Do Good” « The Great Realization

5. atheists more likely to be superstitious

TBR.cc: Gallup poll: atheists more likely to be superstitious

 

[Azakel]

I know that there are some researches that may support the view of atheists being happier then theists. However I think that the whole story told by research says the opposite:

Here are some examples:

1. Research shows believers more stress-free than atheists

Research shows believers more stress-free than atheists

2.Atheists Are More Likely to Cheat

eHarmony Says Atheists Are More Likely to Cheat - Think Atheist

3. Atheists are less likely to volunteer and give less to charity

American atheists appear to be less likely to vote and volunteer and give less to charity «

4. Atheists Less Likely to “Do Good”

Canadian Poll Claims Atheists Less Likely to “Do Good” « The Great Realization

5. atheists more likely to be superstitious

TBR.cc: Gallup poll: atheists more likely to be superstitious

I think you need to back your claim, all those sites are biased and one sided.

 

[Wannabe Yogi]

5. atheists more likely to be superstitious

TBR.cc: Gallup poll: atheists more likely to be superstitious

This quote from your source says it all

" so Sarah Palin is statistically two and a half times more likely to be rational than Barrack Obama."

If you want to convince us the truth of your statements you can't use dating services and pop christian magazines as your sources.

 

[3.14]

well a study that says" The precise contribution of religion to mental health remains controversial,"
doesn't realy convice me

and the other one uses outdated data (some more then 14 years old) and most with just a 1000 people sample size (these days if you talk about results from 72000 people from 72 diffrent sources with dozens of diffrent variables they will laugh in our face)


and still the only correlation they could find is the group and goal aspect wich isn't religion exlusive