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Happiness and religion
Happiness is clearly attracting a lot of attention at the moment and if one includes the topic of religion one’s bound to attract even more attention…dare I say controversy.
But these are important issues and we need to try and understand the complex relationship between happiness and religion/spirituality/faith.
I won’t state my opinion on this matter for now but I invite those of you who’re interested to read this article on happiness and then, if you have some time and/or an opinion, let us know what you think.
To read more - click here
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 7:35 am and is filed under Happiness News.
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May 14th, 2008 at 12:01 am
doc happy - one thing that we MUST be clear about …….
any studies done on the happiness of religious people should NOT be limited to the people that attend church. This is because the sample is skewed - the elderly, the sick, the housebound, the people with mental illness (including depression) generally can’t get to church or don’t go to church and if they aren’t happy then their contribution isn’t able to be made into the survey results.
I know this because I’ve read this criticism being made on other study results.
There are many reasons that are NOT based on the religion itself that is shown to increase the general happiness of religious people - including the sense that you are loved by a higher being etc. From a psychological point of view it’s only logical. But it doesn’t mean it’s right.
I’ve met some agnostics who are VERY VERY happy because they believe that they’re not being tricked into something that they believe doesn’t exist.
but religion can be a great source of unhappiness for some people too.
fwiw etc etc.
PS - good to see the “spam” filter you’ve put on for people posting replies