(August 5, 2016 at 9:05 am)Aractus Wrote: People live longer and are happier, read the link in my sig. There is an abundance of peer review studies that show this. And consistently it is far greater than any other social group (sporting clubs, other interest groups, etc). If you want to live longer, and be happier, find a religion you like and join it. You could become a devout Kopimist* for example (*note no studies show a health benefit for this particular religion, yet).
Except these studies don't say anything about any one individual, rather that in general, people with religious beliefs tend to be happier and live longer lives. This may be due to people with certain predispositions who tend to be happier when they put their faith in some higher power or whatever vs people who have similar dispositions but end up less happy without religion. So perhaps religion serves more as a moderator variable for the relationship between some predispositional variable and happiness, rather than as a direct causal factor. If so, this means religion isn't necessary to boost these people's happiness, but it may be the best option we are aware of at this point.
