Does Being Religious Make You Happier? A Recent Study Says It Does.

THE ISSUES

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This New Study Identifies the Happiest People in America

A new study by the Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture has found there is a very high correlation between personal happiness and religious practice. According to the study, 45 percent of people who attend religious service every week characterize themselves as “very happy.” Only 28 percent of people who do not attend church weekly say they are “very happy.” Four percent of those who never attend church services are twice as likely to describe themselves as “very unhappy;” only two percent of those who worship say they fit that description.

The study was based on prior research, and was broad in scope, with a representative sample of 15,738 Americans between ages 18 and 60. Anarticle on the study in Breitbart News continues:

The study indicated that not only religious service attendance, but self-reported “religiosity” and religious “affiliation” are also linked with happiness levels. Yet of the three indicators, service attendance has the highest correlation to increased happiness. The study showed that higher levels of church attendance “predict higher life satisfaction,” even after accounting for how important religious faith is in people’s lives.

The correlation between religiosity and happiness is clear, but explanations of the connection and possible causal relationship are less clear. One theory suggests that the social support that religious communities can provide may be a key factor contributing to increased happiness, since “religious Americans are more apt to be involved in their communities.” Yet even here, the study found “that those who attend religious services often are happier than their peers with similar levels of involvement in the community.”

These statistics tying happiness to religiosity have held true over time. A similar survey conducted ten years ago generated similar results, leading to the same conclusions. When the General Social Survey asked a sample of Americans in 2004, “Would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?” religious people were more than twice as likely as the non-religious to say they were “very happy” (43%-21%).

With the season of Christmas and Hanukkah observances now behind us, it might be interesting to know: Did those who went to church or synagogue have a happier experience than those who simply wished each other, “Happy Holiday”?