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Are believers happier than atheists?

IndigoChild5559

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Shadow Wolf said:
And yet they really shouldn't be made because it the potentially for implying those outside of the norm are wrong, bad, lacking, etc. all the other fallacies I've heard. Such as this, where the implication can be those without cannot reach optimal happiness, or be as happy as those in religion.
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Oh brother. so we should censor scientifically gained knowledge because you think the bell shaped curve implies that devations are somehow wrong? (It doesn't.)
 
Trailblazer

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
IndigoChild5559 said:
Oh brother. so we should censor scientifically gained knowledge because you think the bell shaped curve implies that devations are somehow wrong? (It doesn't.)
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Please cite any scientific studies that state that nonreligious people cannot reach optimal happiness or be as happy as those in religion.
 
IndigoChild5559

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Trailblazer said:
While it might be true that 'statistically speaking' most people are happier being part of a religious community, that does not mean that all people are happier. To claim that is the fallacy of hasty generalization and the fallacy of jumping to conclusions.

What is the scientific evidence that people are generally happier as part of a religious community?
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People who are active in religious congregations tend to be happier and more civically engaged than either religiously unaffiliated adults or inactive members of religious groups, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data from the United States and more than two dozen other countries. Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World

These results have been repeated often enough that the latest studies simply assume the prior research to be true and go after more detailed analysis, such as do different religious communities have different levels of happiness.
 
IndigoChild5559

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Trailblazer said:
Please cite any scientific studies that state that nonreligious people cannot reach optimal happiness or be as happy as those in religion.
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It's a bell shaped curve my friend.

I'm shocked at the number of responses that came from people who don't understand how statistics work.
 
Trailblazer

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
IndigoChild5559 said:
People who are active in religious congregations tend to be happier and more civically engaged than either religiously unaffiliated adults or inactive members of religious groups, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data from the United States and more than two dozen other countries. Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World

These results have been repeated often enough that the latest studies simply assume the prior research to be true and go after more detailed analysis, such as do different religious communities have different levels of happiness.
Click to expand...
That might be generally true but I would rather be unhappy than try to be someone I am not.
 
Trailblazer

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
IndigoChild5559 said:
It's a bell shaped curve my friend.

I'm shocked at the number of responses that came from people who don't understand how statistics work.
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The bell shaped curve means there are people on either side of the curve.
Not everyone wants to be part of the majority.

Characteristics of a Bell Curve

The bell curve is perfectly symmetrical. It is concentrated around the peak and decreases on either side. In a bell curve, the peak represents the most probable event in the dataset while the other events are equally distributed around the peak.

Bell Curve - Overview, Characteristics, and Uses in Finance
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
IndigoChild5559 said:
Oh brother. so we should censor scientifically gained knowledge because you think the bell shaped curve implies that devations are somehow wrong? (It doesn't.)
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No, I'm saying we shouldn't be inferring from it that being in a religious community is a component of a happy life. The data doesn't say that. It's shows us a correlation between the two, but we have far too many counter examples to call it a component of a happy life. Community, very much so. We have plenty of research to demonstrate our need for community. But we see lots of people who don't have religion and a lot of miserable people who do have religion. Some people seem driven to seek it while some seem apathetic towards it.
At most, we can infer that people who are happy often belong to a religious community. But of course we also must investigate if this is something happy seek or if it is something that makes people happy. And then as I previously stated, inferences such as stating it is a component for a happy life is problematic for the potential implications behind it, such as it being implied those without cannot be optimally happy or achieve the same level of happiness as those who are a part of a religious community. But I'm sure everyone who is honest in thought recognizes this is not necessarily or inherently a true statement. We know people can be miserable in them and happy outside of them.
 
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