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What does anyone gain by being religious? Religion certainly doesn't ward off disappointment, illness, death, injustice, or financial loss, tbh....
I don't belong to any religion.
What does anyone gain by being religious? Religion certainly doesn't ward off disappointment, illness, death, injustice, or financial loss, tbh....
You must not know anyone into religion. You honestly believe that silliness?
During the past 30 years or so, a slew of studies have suggested that religious people tend to be happier and healthier, on average, than those who describe themselves as non-religious.
In fact, some research has found that people who regularly attend religious services can expect to live an average of seven years longer than their peers who never step inside a church, synagogue or mosque.
For years these kinds of studies have been construed as bad news for the 15 percent of Americans who cite “none” as their religious affiliation. But, as Sandra Upson points out in an article this month in Scientific American Mind, non-religious individuals and atheists (for they are not necessarily the same) needn’t worry.
New research has found “that the positive effects of religion depend enormously on where you live,” writes Upson. “Religious people may be happier than their godless counterparts, but only if the society they belong to values religion highly, which not all societies do.”
Wherever you got that from is some shady bull . Your blurb claims these studies exist. Then it cites sciam which is one of the more renowned scientific publications out there.
Problem is that the blog entry is not a study nor cites one and it doesn't even conclude that religious people are happier. It says it depends on who you ask.
Those are some slimy tactics.
Oh bytw I was wondering when you get pinked does the "NEW THREAD" button get greyed out or do they put a special message up for you?
I've thought about giving up posting threads and start getting more involved in others threads for awhile now. So a blessing in disguise as far as the pink thing goes. Not worried about it at all. I haven't ried to post a thread obviously.
There are tons and tons of similiar stuff out there. That be happy believe in God, be unhappy be an atheist.
Apparently there is a Columbia study. Found it and here is the portion relating to religion:
Religion
Some 68% of adults in the world say that “religion is important in their daily lives.”85 Yet our understanding of its effects on human happiness is limited. The Gallup World Poll data reported in Chapter 2 provide a starting point.86 They show that religious belief and practice is more common in countries there life is harder (less income, life expectancy, education and personal safety). They also show that in the U.S. religious belief is higher in those states where life is harder. After controlling crudely for those factors, there is no difference in life satisfaction between more and less religious countries. There is however a clear difference when comparing the emotional life of more and less religious regions. In particular, in those countries where life is
tough, there is strikingly more positive emotion and less negative emotion among those people who are more religious. Where life is easier, there is no such difference in this study.
72
It is interesting to understand what aspects of religion produce the positive effects on happiness. Clearly religion has both social aspects (especially through attending places of worship) but also deeply personal aspects (as
connected for example with private prayer). In the Gallup World Poll people are asked about the importance of religion in their daily lives and also about whether they “have attended a place of worship or religious service within the last seven days?” (roughly half of the world’s population had done this). Though these variables are not perfectly correlated they both have similar explanatory power.87
It is therefore natural that, when further questions are examined, they confirm that religion can help in hard cir stances both by providing more “relatives or friends you can count on,” and more feelings of being respected, and more feeling that “your life has an important purpose or meaning.”88
Most of the results we have considered above are based on inter-country comparisons. When it comes to comparisons between individuals there is always the problem that people who are naturally happier in given cir stances are more willing to believe that there is a benevolent deity. However studies of individuals do largely agree with the preceding inter-country findings. Meta-analysis concludes that greater religiosity is
mildly associated with fewer depressive symptoms89 and 75% of studies find at least some positive effect of religion on well-being.90 This effect is particularly prevalent in high-loss situations, such as bereavement, and
weaker in low-loss situations, such as job loss or marital problems. Thus religion can reduce the well-being consequences of stressful events, via its stress-buffering role.91
A recent large study of individuals in the European Social Survey found small but statistically significant effects on life satisfaction of “ever attending religious services” and “ever praying.”92 And interestingly the religiosity of others in the region was also found to have positive benefits both on those who are religious and on those who are not. This confirms findings from cross-country analysis of the Gallup World Poll that weekly church attendance has positive spillovers on the well-being of others at the national level.93
Ahh the "its not a punishment because this is what I really wanted" rationalization.
As that study indicated its not understood very well.
They show correlations but they show much stronger correlations to social interaction and economic well being. Have any studies that control for those?
To be honest, "happiness" is not the end-all, be-all. That's why novels like Brave New World are not happy children books.
http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sitefi...s%20Report.pdfThe Gallup World Poll data reported in Chapter 2 provide a starting point.86 They show that religious belief and practice is more common in countries there life is harder (less income, life expectancy, education and personal safety). They also show that in the U.S. religious belief is higher in those states where life is harder.
I did nothing to be punished for. But it's all good, no problem.
You will not find any studies that tell us it's better off to be an atheist. None!
I don't see your point. So what if you're not better off being an atheist. Does that mean I should just hop on a religious bandwagon at random and fake it til I make it?
There's no studies that being a Cleveland Browns fan is better off than being a fan of any other NFL team, but yet, people still buy tickets.
Or put another way: ignorance is bliss.
Oh I see. You have been maligned and unfairly treated.
And I just showed you a study that religious belief was inversely proportional to stuff like income, life expectancy, education and personal safety.
It's really not that hard to figure out. Let's take a very secular country such as France, Germany or Britain and compare that with those less secular like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Pakistian, Malaysia, or Mauritania.
Hmmmm.
Who said it was? I'm saying what does anyone gain by being an atheist? Well?
So you are trying to tell me it's better to not have a God in your life? That being an atheist is the way to go?
I wouldn't say that atheists were ignorant, it's more like stubborn.
Nothing? Self-honesty? Ask a sensible question and you'll get a sensible answer. I am an atheist because I am. *shrug* Why not ask what one gains from following a basketball team, or what one gains from choosing to eat a sandwich instead of a pizza, or some other inanity?
You know, being an atheist is not like buying a car. I'm an atheist because I don't have any belief. If tomorrow I woke up, and I was convinced somehow to believe in God/s, I wouldn't be an atheist.
It's a part of who I am, my personality, how I self-identify. Being an atheist is part of me in the same way that being a geek is part of me. I didn't choose to become a geek, it just happened that way.
No, you look at those around you who are into religion and do believe in a God and notice how they are far more content than you are. Then you do some serious soul seraching.
Trust me, it's far better being the fan of a great team...Niners/Steelers/Cowboys/Patriots/Packers than it is being a fan of Lions/Seahawks/Vikings/Browns/Cardinals.
Who said anything about better? That's your choice and I have zero desire to speak for you.
All I am saying is that countries that have less religion have more income, life expectancy, education and personal safety.
If believing in obvious fabrications makes you feel better about yourself then have at it. The truth no matter how repugnant is still the truth.
Hey, if you are happy being an atheist more power to you. I don't care.
Funny, you'd think you'd learn the same lesson. Tons of ST posters, and yet, the majority don't get pinked. You'd think you'd learn from that.
Re: soul searching, I'm pretty certain I've read more about religion than the majority of religious people that post on these boards.
Of course. But if you are a fan of the Lions/Seahawks/etc, are you just going to jump ship to another franchise?
Oh, and you wouldn't have said that about the Patriots before the year 2000, to be quite frank.
I couldn't care less if you talk to me or not. You came to me, right?
If you have some need to live in a fantasy world go for it. I don't give a . So you can prove these obvious fabrications, right?
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