Does God make you happy?

Ignorance is bliss and that is why I have wiped the smile from my face....

The article here is not saying all people in every religion are "happy" people all the time. Beng a "believer" I can say first hand that happiness is fleeting and normally based on circumstances. I do not experience happiness all the time, and I do believe in God. I would like to say though, believing in God, and knowing that God is for me and not against me has helped me face life in a healhier way. I'm "happy" that I can gleen wisdom and guidance from an omnipotent being I know as God, and that in the end makes my life a little simplier or maybe you can say "happier". Hope this is a breathe of fresh air, and not a debbi downer kind-of comment. God bless those who read this with real happiness. namasti

Not always happy, but always believing in the Creator...

Are we, making God happy? Is the question.

God gave us the earth to do with what we will...and look at what we've done thus far....

That could be probably done menmykoko, by other hand, one thing I know for sure,
God will not protect you from your ignorance.

I was going to say something what "emnmykoko" said about his confusion but I am just go ahead and vote for you "Mobius2012"

People are so quick to dismiss the existence of God, yet they can blame GOD for everything. How do you blame a God that doesn't exist? you acknowledge God's existence by doing so.....

Why does everyone blame everything on God? aren't we the ones fighting, messing around with chemicals that create famine and disease , hating, aborting, over-industrializing which is causing global warming, lying, which causes distrust ect. we, are to Blame, the key words are ''Free Will'', I don't see God causing any kind of conflict, all I see are Humans running around, fighting, stealing, cheating!

No.

1lipmoving- you said it perfectly.

This doesn't surprise me at all...Wouldn't you feel all the happier if you knew that in the end everything was going to be okay, no matter what you or anyone else did or said?

I know I'm happy because I see the positive in life. It's the little things that count. Being at peace with myself allows me to deal with life's curve balls.

In the words of Douglas Adams:"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? "

I refuse to swallow the pill of Murti-Bing

Does the study distinguish or differentiate between religiosity and spirituality? These are not interchangeable concepts.

Happiness is a choice we make.

nice "over here" but I don't think that these people are unhappy for example in my christian days my happiness was in belonging and believing in a God that others told me too but now my world view is my choice

And when you break happiness down scientifically you see that faith is sufficient but not nessasary.

If happiness = well being from needs met and self esteem from courage. -happiness from choice

what is love??? good question.

He, He, He! I want to express here that I enjoyed reading some of the responses. I even read what "Jubal" said here that "GOD is Love" in which I find it to be the truth. However, Some of my questions here remain:

- How do I know GOD makes You happy when, (some of you), does not even know what GOD is? I really could have some fun now and play a charade with you but that is not my intention.

We are in 2008 and I feel that we should graduate to the next level of Spirituality and human development, not confusing with our own points here at Current. Therefore, helping a little with the answer,

You could just have Faith and believe that GOD exists and just by knowing that, it would be a motive for you to be happy.

Now, some of You can say to yourself:

"Ha, ha! Now I know it!, God is Love!" Great! Yes, I got it!!! ...but, but wait a minute, if GOD is LOVE, then,
- What is LOVE? (Do not just Loop and tell me again it is GOD ok, I already know that!). I want some other answer and explanation here.
- How do I acquire LOVE?
- How do I know I have it?
- So, how do I know what Love is when our Culture confuses and "babbling" that love is sex, love is passion and so forth?

We even say: "let's make love," and not "let's make sex."

Not that there is anything wrong in using the word love to express our sexuality or our feelings for our partner or even for things and products. We all do that somehow!

What I am talking here is about knowing the true difference between what is what before going around throwing the word love everywhere, even in the wrong subjects.

Thank you and welcome to answer to all or some of my questions!

the only time i care about why , how , when , or where someone is "happy" is when it makes them happy to infringe on other peoples' rights , and esp. when they think they're doing "god's work" when imposing their agenda .

Interesting to assume the belief in someone or something is what makes you happy. You can only make you happy. Do whatever works for you. Don't follow what someone else has told you or taught you. Figure it out and learn that thought process. I have and I'm the happiest I've been in years!!

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands :)

Well said Conniepae.

Any religion which offers peace, fairness and the sharing of good will should also create a sense of well being and purpose in its followers. The real question is, how does the world that that religion creates behave? People believe a lot of things and they are free to believe whatever they may because this is America... and people have died for their passive beliefs that allow them to dissent publicly. Yea, so people have died so passifists can protest being free?? The real real question is... who is really "open minded"?? Who's rules are you following?

OverHere-

Your unscientific analysis is predicated on a false assumption. The posters here are neither atheists nor reflective of atheists. Most people in the country are non-practicing Christians who have great doubts about the practice of their religion. Those people aren;t filled with hate, but may feel repressed and so take an opportunity like this to vent.

Real atheists, like me, are some of the calmest happiest kindest people you'll ever meet -- in part because we had to come up with our own reasons to be that way.

Napoleon and Caesar both realized the hypnotic power of religion. It is not news that it makes people feel good, that's how and why social control has been so commanding over the last 2000 years: consolidated belief in automatic views.

Remember when it was a group of pranksters living on a Mtn top? Still silly.

When I believed, I found it much easier to get on my knees, pray, and go on about my life like everything was honkey dorey, because at the end of the day, I was gonna be walking down some golden street utopia, drinking milk and honey beside the trinity, asking them why in the world they would let us run amuck in the first place.
As long as I didn't ask any questions about my faith, I was fine. The more I thought about it, the more sense it didn't make. I took the blue pill and realized, that this here, just might be it. I have to live it with my eyes open. Be the best person I can be, without thinking like a minion. What makes me angry is how believers look at me like I'm the wierdo for not believing in an entity I have yet to see.

The distinction is between people with "faith" and people without "faith". Faith in life, in present, in future, faith in a higher order and sense.
The more you believe that your existence can influence and change reality, the more it will happen, the more you'll be satisfy of yourself... and you'll be happy. It's both a mental and spiritual condition, everyone can improve it.
You can be "religious" or not, not really important.
The important thing is spiritual rise.

Well I have two comments on that, overhere. My first, is that this is an open medium for people to discuss politics, religion, or whatever floats your boat. I think the vast majority of the people who comment on threads such as this (including myself), are simply seeking controversy. What other incentive is there? It's just a bunch of people who all know they're right, coming to a conversation so that they can tell others why they're wrong, and pretend to have some special insight into the matter. I get angry sometimes, but I am not angry by nature. Consider that those posts you see, exhibiting hateful language and all that, is just the response that this research incurs. How would you react if someone told you that you weren't happy? I know that's not actually the implication, but anger isn't a very rational thing. Many of those said posts are by people with no anger issues, or any behavioral difference from yourself, just they have taken offense to this article. Never read into what you read on the internet. It's a magical place where you won't be penalized for being mean, so why not be a jerk. It's satisfying when someone disagrees with you, because it gives the opportunity to reject the other persons opinion, and assert your own with force. I do know that I am a happy person. That is, happy by my definition. Who is to define happy? If someone is not happy, how are they to know what happy is? and, for that matter, how can you standardize happiness? You can't. That's why the study didn't reveal ANYTHING WHATSOEVER about happiness. I'm not sure why the article claims this, because what the research revealed, was quite different. People who think they will meet their loved ones after they die, are going to be less distraught. People who think their loved ones are dead forever, are going to be pretty broken up. That's it. Religion gives people hope. I didn't need scientists to tell me that. Oh, and I forget what my other comment was. It's probably somewhere in there.

To quote Frank Lloyd Wright, "I believe in God, only I spell it N-A-T-U-R-E." I see the the magic and inspiring ways of nature and it makes me happy.

Which leads to Thoreau who said, "Everybody needs to believe in something- I believe I'll go fishing."

As for my doctrine and creed you may ask? Well, I am a militant agnostic; I don't know and you don't either! (... it makes me happy to point that out also!)

let me take a moment to clarify my use of the word "anger" or "angry"

derision and ridicule, like cynicism, is often a mask for anger

here's a test: think of something that you treasure, such as a pet or a car or a parent, an event in your life or a ____ (fill in the blank)

you are fond of this pet (for example) and would not ridicule it or be derisive about it even though you may well see its positive and its negative traits. in short, you are not angry with this favorite ______

on the other hand, if you think of something that you do ridicule or are cynical about (a not-favored parent for example; or car; or boss; or colleague, bad drivers on the roadway, etc)...do you ridicule that person or thing? isn't here a hidden anger (if you search long enough) that you hold toward that person or event in your life?

when folks ridicule or speak derisively or are cynical about ______ (something) there usually is a buried anger operating. it takes work to find the anger but it is usually worth the effort because then you are freed of being "held captive" by the anger; at that time something "miraculous" happens: you can speak peacefully AND interact peacefully with the "other" even though you may still see more negative traits than positive ones

religious traditions usually assist people during this very transformative journey. seems to me that's a good thing. otherwise we'd have far more confused and angry folks clogging the roadways (of life)

well seeing as religious people believe in an afterlife, duality and safety after death in spiritual existence, they clearly would be quite content. Whereas atheists believe in death, an end to material existence and/if not spiritual.

angry?

who's angry?

based on an unscientific analysis but a clear reading of the words left by many responders: it appears that being an atheist, linguistically at least, brings out a lot of "hate words". I cannot help but wonder if the mind and heart are just as angry. curious.

and again, unscientifically but with clear participation in my faith tradition, I know that peace, ease, happiness, and health are more frequently found in my colleagues than hate words are especially during troubled times such as death of a loved one or other major life changing events.

I also find a huge, absolutely huge, similarity between buddhist behavior and christian behavior: (again) peace, ease, happiness, and health.

and yes I do wonder why the difference is so marked. belief itself helps. but there appears to be some other quality at work as well. very very curious. some of you angry folks might want to reconsider your world view if you find inner peace frightfully elusive to you. j

on the other hand, if you are good with hatred and anger within that works for me as well...well...at a distance anyway. I'll always defend your right to be angry if it really matters to you.

That's what a delusion can do for you!

oh no!!!

wait wait let me edit it first!

LOL. just remove the word 'else', please!!!!

somebody, help!

giggles

:)

If happiness is positive emotional energy, that comes from a balance of having your needs met and confidence and courage to face fears...
to what extent is religion helping people and how am i missing out on that?

Wow look at all you thinkers, I kinda enjoyed listening to all of your opinions

uroborus8, spread the truth about who really created the universe!

Hah, hah, but seriously, it shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. I would draw from this that it might make people more complacit with their lives.

"Man, things are going so horrible. It's ok, i'll die sone day and go to heaven."

You have only yourself to blame if life gets to you...
What about the spiritualists........even the dead can be happy.

"The idea that religion may offer substantial psychological benefits in life, is in sharp contrast with another common viewpoint that religion is repressive and has a negative influence on human development."

These two things are not contradictory. There is no sharp contrast between "You are a mind controlled Zombie" and "You are happy."

Also, no comma between "in life" and "is in sharp contrast"

There is no reason why you shouldn't believe this. Religion is a tool to discipline yourself.It is not about being a catholic or protestant. Discipline gives you the ability to differentiate good from bad. Doing the right thing, gives you satisfaction and mental peace. This stable mind increases awareness which in turn gives you the strength to cope up with any situation

To everyone who thinks it doesn't take faith in God to make them happy,you are absolutely correct. People are happy for various reasons. Happiness is good, no matter what the reason.

If you find happiness and feel at peace with yourself, PASS IT ON! It doesn't have to come from God, it can come from you. There's an old saying, "The buck starts with you." Pass it on!

Peace!

I'm sticking to ignorance as it provides me all the bliss that I need and asks little in return.
Faith can be a comfort while remaining very fragile. The moment a mind asks itself, "Why would God let something like ____________ happen?", Faith can be shattered by doubt. I can't imagine anything more profoundly life damaging than when a believer starts questioning God's ways.

Abraham Lincoln said "People are as happy as they make their minds up to be."

Believing in a higher power is not the exclusive domain of religion. There are many twelve step programs that offer a pathway to God without a bunch of religious dogma or rituals. God is love, God does not punish anyone, God does not judge.

Perhaps there was something missing from the study, following a religion and believing in God are not synonymous.

it is sorta freudian isn't it ? if you psychoanalyze it enough you might just come up with the answers - and you'll probably be right , interestingly enough .

I am interested in why many people responded so negatively to this article. Almost in a defensive way as if the article was attacking them personally.

Does praying to the porcelain god after too many shots of patron count?

Sometimes it is difficult for people to see things for what they are and make up stories for why things happened(play the victim). I think if you are able to move on from a negative situation and make it into a positive one, you'll be much happier. Religious or not.

"happiness is a warm gun " John Lennon

JADE_AZUL16!!
You said it best "No one else can make you happy but yourself. Happiness is a decision.
It's a way of life."

This article made me depressed :(

Happiness is totally subjective. One defines their own terms, and I'd like to make the clarification that religion does not make happiness. Low standards make happiness. For example, I can lay in my bean bag, transfixed by the TV, sipping Sunkist, and eating Spaghettios, and I am truly happy. Is this because I have found inner peace, and a meaning for my bleak, insignificant life? No. It's because for this brief moment, I am contented enough to forget about, or ignore any problems that I may be facing. Others find perpetual ignorance in the arms of dogmatic religion. Others find ignorance pseudo-spiritual transindentalism. Still others find there ignorance in an unending search for the truth. This seems contradictory, in that one may be both ignorant and curious at the same time, but it is not so. Whatever takes your mind off your trpubles, is happiness.

and katharinekov - propson the carlin quote. I think HE is the supreme intelligence everyone's looking for.

Perhaps I am missing something. Religion came about from primitive peoples' intent to understand the frightening things in the world that they were not capable of understanding. Religion was the shield to protect them from the things that frightened them. It spread to include those things that made them feel good. These researchers need to understand that contemporary religions did not arrise in a vacuum but were adopted directly from those ancient beliefs and did not replace or displace them as much as they adopted them and enhanced them.

I am all for the flying spaghetti monster.

"I want you to know, when it comes to believing in god- I really tried. I really really tried. I tried to believe that there is a god who created each one of us in his own image and likeness, loves us very much and keeps a close eye on things. I really tried to believe that, but I gotta tell you, the longer you live, the more you look around, the more you realize...something is FUCKED-UP. Something is WRONG here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is NOT good work. If this is the best god can do, I am NOT impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a supreme being. This is the kind of shit you'd expect from an office temp with a bad attitude. And just between you and me, in any decently run universe, this guy would have been out on his all-powerful-ass a long time ago." -george carlin

very happy , thanks for asking .

what exactly is "normal functioning" that any drug user's brain should be "hi-jacked" by chemicals ? actually - what is the "reality" which the perceived departure from would imply "abnormality" ? could it not also be said that drugs actually help certain peeps "deal" with the state of things which would otherwise hijack their sanity ( which would apply to any altered state of consciousness , including yogic meditation ) ? think about what you're saying yoda .

i think the key factor here is the belief, or faith (whatever you want to call it) that there is a 'greater' purpose, meaning, design, flow, richness...etc... to life than what we experience in our daily trivial individual routines.

people with a spiritual practice - i would disagree that it only applies to those following a conventional religion, based on my experience as a yoga practitioner and my observations of yogis and meditators i've known - have a more sustained and stable way of cutting through the bullshit and remembering who we are.

so do people who do a lot of drugs. but they also have to deal with hijacked brain chemicals.

i am happy being the smoldering cynic who looks upon the cotton ball insulated psyches of the religious peeps and feels superior - if it weren't for the cattle minded in this world , i'd lose the very foundation for my self esteem . i thank "god" for ignorance .

Thank God my faith doesn't lie in the hands of man! I have faith in God, but not man. Several months back I read a book titled "When God Winks". I enjoyed it, because I have had many winks. Not financially. I haven't won the lottery, but I ask for it every day. Money is not the only blessing worth receiving.

Seeing a double rainbow, lifted my spirit when I was very low. Going for a ride on 9/11 several years ago and coming across a group of hot air balloons. My husband and I pulled into the church parking lot where they were taking off from and watched them go up. It was great! Unfortunately, I didn't have my digital camera, so I used Conigital "pictures in my mind, complete with smell-o-vision. I say click and take a deep breath. I have so many Conigitals, I can picture them any time I'm feeling low and lift my spirits. It may not be God, but it makes me feel better

Ignorance is bliss!

i think that it is not religion per se, but, rather, belief or spirituality. i absolutely abhor religion, all of them, for all the false texts, stolen stories, mis-translations, subliminal messages for control of the populus, etc... but on the other hand while i have no religion i do have my own personal philosophy and spirituality that has made my life easier to maintain and ultimately enjoy. please, believe me when i say i've been down the nihilist path and it made life difficult to no end.

A similar study revealed that twenty ounces of rum had pretty much the same effect.

I was going to say I don't belong to an organized religion -- but I have been an avid Mac owner for the past decade, so obviously I do.

The iPhone is God (albeit without 3G and true GPS. Dammit. Hopefully the 2nd Coming of the iPhone will banish those sinful oversights)

God has always made me happy and I pray that other people can experiance the love and compasion he shows for his children

I believe in a greater Intelligence in the universe because I've directly experienced it on many occasions. I look to some of the greatest people in recent human history as my inspiration, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Albert Einstein, etc. etc. - and one thing they all had in common was a devout belief in the existence of the divine. I don’t belong to an organized religion or a cult, and I was once and atheist and a questioner. I know that there is infinitely more to this great and wonderful universe than our puny human existence and our sometimes narrow conception of it. Even if this is just Mother Nature encouraging me to be happier so I can survive longer – works for me and millions of others like me.

In related news, I recently discovered a $20 bill in a jacket I hadn't worn in a while.

That made me more content with life too.

I don't know, I think a belief in anything could make you happy. It's what keeps you going. Sometimes I think even Atheists aren't full on atheists, because we all look to something or someone even if it's just ourselves.

If you are your own god, that faith in yourself will do just fine I think.

Although, methinks a belief system is what makes you happy. Not a church, cathedral, synagogue, etc. If you can find peace and happiness through meditation in your studio apt, go for it.

"The authors concluded that religion in general, might act as a "buffer" that protects people from life's disappointments."

And this is a good thing? Buffer, crutch, what's the difference? I'll walk through life (happily i might add) without a crutch slowing me down thank you.

Have you seen him without his shirt??

hehe

Ned Flanders makes me happy.

God bless him.

If Jesus and Tony Robbins got in a fight --who would win?

Sure Jesus can walk on water, but Tony can walk on fire! How can you beat that?

I also personally happen to think Tony tells better parables than Jesus.

Happy I am that the power and responsibility of life's purpose rests entirely within me.

Ha ha.

If we asked the Heaven's Gate cult, er, I mean religious adherents if they felt happy and content with their lives -- if they enjoyed the running suits and the castration -- they'd probably say yes.

At least that what they had said in their last video taped message to their families right before they stuffed a roll of quarters in their pockets and killed themselves to ascend spiritually into the spacecraft awaiting them in the tail of the Hale-Bopp comet.

No one else can make you happy but yourself. Happiness is a decision.
It's a way of life.

That all seems very subjective to me.

Are Catholics "happier" than Protestants?

Are athiests "happier" than agnostics?

Are Wiccans "happier" than Satanists?

Are the Amish really "happier" than Scientologists?

I bet the people of Jonestown would rank themselves has fairly "content" all the way up until the posion Kool-aid was being passed out -- so what does that say?

I'm curious how this study was conducted. Did they just ask someone "How well did you cope with your job loss?" If people are scoring themselves -- wouldn't they skew the results as they tend to describe themselves more favorably to strangers?

Maybe another study should be: How honestly do people portray themselves to scientists in studies?

Kinda like when you ask someone, "How ya doing tday?" We all automatically respond, "Fine!"

odd, I must be the exception for this thesis.

Duh. This is the stupidest "discovery" I've ever heard.

ha ha

I'm the happiest person I know.