Comments on: Arthur Brooks on Religion and Happiness

By: Club Penguin Cheats

Club Penguin Cheats — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:39:50 +0000

If religion was never state supported in Europe, one wonders how attitudes toward religion would be different today, and if perhaps it would just be another factor of many adding to individual happiness. If so, then Brooks' point would still stand. Interestingly, the analysis of Ekelund, Hebert, and Tollison suggests that absent religion, people would simply demand something else.

By: Walter Lewkowski

Walter Lewkowski — Tue, 05 May 2009 21:06:37 +0000

Here’s the question asked.

How would you characterize yourself?
A) A religious nut
B) Not a complete nut but an intelligent skeptic
C) A stupid person who believes in God
D) An intelligent person who sees the folly of religion.

Now if the subject answers A, B, or C then you asks him:

How would you characterize you emotional life:
A) Totally miserable
B) Dreadfully unhappy
C) Deeply depress with life
D) The small happiness I get out of life is hoping there is no God.

If he doesn’t answer A, B, or C but D then you ask him:

How would you characterize you emotional life:
A) Ecstatically happy
B) Totally happy
C) Quite happy
D) Couldn’t be happier

By: Christian Church Pastor

Christian Church Pastor — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:10:36 +0000

One of the common taught phrases of Christ was that “in the world you will have tribulation”. Happiness is not a promise of Christ.

By: Addiction

Addiction — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:11:43 +0000

Happiness is relative to the individual and their experiences...

http://www.substanceabusesupport.com

By: Is Everybody Happy? – Jeff Duntemann’s Contrapositive Diary

Is Everybody Happy? – Jeff Duntemann’s Contrapositive Diary — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:29:04 +0000

[...] is that happiness appears to correlate with intensity of religious feelings. Cato research fellow Will Wilkinson challenges that thesis in his blog, and whereas it’s a reasonable counterpoint, one of the comments below Wilkinson’s [...]

By: Joel West

Joel West — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:01:30 +0000

I was wondering if anyone had any theories on Ireland. It is the most religious of the European countries on the religious participation chart by a large margin. A Satisfaction with Life Index Map – Map published in White, A. (2007). A Global Projection of Subjective Well-being: A Challenge To Positive Psychology? Psychtalk 56, 17-20.(also on the wikipedia page for happiness) puts Ireland in the happiest of five brackets. That is higher than France and Germany and Spain and the UK, all significantly less religious as a country. It is in the same happiness bracket as Norway and Finland and Sweden and Iceland. How can those Irish people be so happy?

By: Shaneen Clarke

Shaneen Clarke — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:35:39 +0000

Several people who implement their faith are happy in other aspects of their lives and those who don't are sometimes the one that have attain true happiness.

By: jan

jan — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:58:11 +0000

There is a BIG problem with your article here. You draw faulty conclusions because you compare two variables without keeping other factors constant (you don't bring them into your model). In other words your relationships are spurious. Two of the strongest factors in explaining happiness is income and freedom and control over ones life. These three factors have dramatically increased in Europe over the last 30 years as economic freedom has increased. This explains the increased happiness. See the Econmists Quality of Life Index, The Legatum Prosperity Index and Stevenson and Wolfers (2008) for an explanation (don't take my word for it).

By: jan

jan — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 01:52:22 +0000

Actually, according to the World Values Survey and the World Happiness Index, Religious people in Scandinavia score higher on happiness then non-religious people in Scandinavia. This is true for every country in the world, not just the US. High divorce rates is one of the things that reduces US happiness levels. However, If one averages US happiness levels on all the cross-country surveys, the US still score in the top 10th percentile.

By: danieldrezner.com :: Daniel W. Drezner » God might not be great, but church is awesome

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 16:18:11 +0000

[...] a disputed question in Europe. In the United States, however, it’s not disputed. As Will Wilkinson put it a few months ago, “there is no disputing the data: in the United States, religious participation is positively [...]

By: Andrew Norton » Blog Archive » Does religion make you happy?

Andrew Norton » Blog Archive » Does religion make you happy? — Wed, 28 May 2008 12:01:27 +0000

[...] happy’ (defined as 9-10 on a 0 to 10 happiness scale) and those who never go, 33% to 23%. Will Wilkinson is, however, critical of Brooks’ attempts to generalise this beyond the US experience. He points out that very [...]

By: the new shelton wet/dry

the new shelton wet/dry — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:40:42 +0000

[...] The effect of religiosity on happiness. [...]

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:13:57 +0000

Where would you rather live, Copenhagen or Lynchburg, Virginia? Nuff said.

By: matt m

matt m — Wed, 21 May 2008 04:09:46 +0000

If we look towards alternative causation models for Brooks’ data…Perhaps the real trend that underlies both data sets is that being part of the majority view makes you happier, as it is harder to fight as the underdog.

Are religious folk in Tibet happier than the other Chinese who aren’t burdened with false beliefs the government wishes to eliminate? My guess would be no.

I believe it is the oppression of lies that the religious force upon the irreligious that could be the problem in the USA. It’s harder to be happy when you have people believing in magical creatures that fly around and that they make decisions with their souls and not their brains- and then you aren’t allowed to criticize their false beliefs. Much as it must be difficult to believe in one the various imaginary gods in a place that falsely reveres Mao or Kim Jong-Il.

Brooks’ assertion of causation is ridiculous and certainly subtracts from any assessment of the independence of his work.

By: Snorri Godhi

Snorri Godhi — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:11:26 +0000

Will: perhaps your latest comment was not meant as an answer to me, but I’ll answer anyway. I interpreted your post not just as a refutation of Brooks (which I would accept) but as making the opposite claim. In particular, your statement: Almost all the countries that consistently score higher than the U.S. in happiness are much less religious is misleading. The European countries scoring higher than the USA in happiness are very small countries, and they might very well score lower than several red states. On the other hand, the big European countries score lower than the USA as a whole.

As an agnostic (with sympathy for Viking paganism), I have no dog in this fight. What I like about Brooks’ work is his challenging the received opinion that people labeling themselves “conservatives” must be grumpy old men. That has nothing to do with religion, of course.