In my personal Experience, I was a happy kid, growing up as a protestant. Wasn't that happy as a JW, due to Cognitive dissonance on many matters. Happiest now as an atheist.
Are Religious People Happier?
by jp1692 45 Replies latest members private
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LoveUniHateExams
I'd say that religious people are neither happier nor more miserable than secular people and atheists.
I tend to agree with Never A JW in that I question the relationship of religious people's happiness with reality.
I get the feeling that atheists' happiness tends to be more rooted in reality.
They are of the view that this life is all there is because that's what all available evidence suggests. There is no evidence for an afterlife or God. This doesn't necessarily make them less happy - instead, their happiness might be more closely connected to reality.
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David_Jay
jp wrote:
But for you to equate my disagreeing with you about a point you made in a post on an online forum with physically abusing a child as you described, well that is just absurd.
Jp, I did not equate what you said with child abuse. That is even more absurd than what you are suggesting.
Apparently this is getting nowhere because no matter what I say you will just dig your heels deeper into your resolve to believe you were not judging anyone.
My comment was that your actions were actions of judgment, which one dictionary defines as:
"to consider and make decisions in agreement or disagreement over"
And this matches your statement:
While I would agree with the first part of your statement, I cannot agree with the second.
Hmmm, "to consider and make decisions in agreement or disageement over"
You: "I would agree with the first part of your statement, I cannot agree with the second."
But somehow you're not judging?
And I compared your denial of judging with how one of my parents denied they were committing child abuse.
I didn't say your actions were equal to the actions of child abuse. Where did I say that? Please cut and paste the part where I said that what you did was equal to abusing a child. I would like to see that. I am very certain you read that into it. But since you are so certain that I did that too, come on. Show it.
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jp1692
Sparrowdown, love the Pink Floyd reference! Dark Side of the Moon was one of my favorite albums when I was a lad. Thanks for the very appropriate reminder.
Your comments are all very insightful. I particularly appreciate your observation about how religions create a sense of "belonging, comraderie and community." This was one of the things that I found from my research that helps us feel more or less happy--do we feel that we belong to something greater than us.
We humans are social animals.
Obviously religions have that sense of community ready made, but they are not the only way for us to fulfill that need. If we don't belong to a religion, then we need to find another community to belong to and to be apart of. The danger of course of us ex-cult members is to avoid joining another cult or other dysfunctional group.
Your comments about rituals are also important. It's ironic that the JW religion has so many negative things to say about the rituals of other religions and yet they have just as many--if not more--of their own; they are just different rituals. And frankly a lot of the JW rituals are pretty lame compared to those of many other religions.
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jp1692
EverApostate: Happiest now as an atheist.
I'm curious, how have you found greater happiness as an atheist? What things have you done to fill your human needs to belong? Your search for meaning and purpose?
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jp1692
LUHE, you made two statements that I find really interesting and worthy of discussing further.
I question the relationship of religious people's happiness with reality.
Atheists' happiness tends to be more rooted in ... [and] ... more closely connected to reality.
This is exactly what I expected to find when I began my research on the subject. I was quite surprised to find that this is not necessarily the case. It was very surprising to me to find that--while their are definitely beliefs which in and of themselves are harmful--beliefs do not have to be true to make a person feel better, more satisfied with life and hence, "happier."
I wish that this were not the case, but I have to go with the data and follow the evidence even if it paints a picture that is not what I expect or want.
One of the articles I analyze in my essay made the point that, It’s less about what you believe than the fact that you have a community, … it’s the social support network that is fulfilling.
To be happy, we humans need to be connected, to have a sense of purpose and meaning in our lives. Ironically, the particular beliefs an individual has don’t seem to matter all that much just as long as those beliefs themselves are not harmful to the individual or their relationships with others.
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EverApostate
jp1692
Happiest now because I have mad a thorough investigation on most of the main religions and found them to be just Myths. Feel sorry for those who are still stuck in. I do my best to make them recognize the reality.
No more cognitive Dissonance, no more fear of being punished by a God for not binding to a religion. Realized this is the only life for me and everyone. Educated myself a lot about this purposeless(So far as I know) Universe and our fragile Existence in it.
And more over, read a lot about real happiness and watched good videos on Happiness. Sustaining true friends. Making others happy. All these I wasn't able to do when I was a JW.
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jp1692
EverApostate: And more over, read a lot about real happiness and watched good videos on Happiness. Sustaining true friends. Making others happy. All these I wasn't able to do when I was a JW.
That's huge!
Cults such as JWs limit people so much and in so many ways. It's truly soul-crushing!
The freedom we are able to enjoy once we leave the cult really does much to contribute to our happiness, as you so well stated.
Would you mind sharing some of the videos you mentioned that contributed to your journey towards Happiness?
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rebel8
David Jay: Religion in and of itself does not... bring any extra amount of sadness to anyone.
Yeah, I can't agree with you there either.
My religion brought me WAY more sadness than I ever would have had without it. It was because I was forced to worship a malicious, hateful sky daddy who created me to be an inferior creature (in his own words) worthy of scorn, misogyny, violence, neglect and early death. Because he said I deserved that, the others who worshiped him carried out his instructions.
Now I've essentially got none of that--it went away once god did.
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EverApostate
jp1692,
Currently reading a nice book Titled "Happy at last - A thinking person’s guide to finding Joy" By Richard O connor.
Besides that, I have read a variety of very famous Books like :God is not Great", "Godless" and certain famous titles I don’t remember, at this point
If you have Netflix, Search for a title named "Happy". Very realistic and truthful documentary.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1613092/videoplayer/vi2599787545?ref_=tt_ov_vi
Also, even though an atheist, I participate in any religious observance simply for the sake of Socializing and more importantly to please the friends and relatives which we weren’t allowed to do as a JW.