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20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

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Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#81

Post by elihu »

jkhdigital wrote: post #53

Is there any major religion which has an expressly stated purpose of increasing the “life satisfaction” of its adherents? I mean, hard to fault religion for failing to deliver something that it never really promised in the first place.

The way I think about it is that part of the point of religion, and perhaps more generally one part of the point of our strange existence on Earth is not to make us happy, but to make us into people who are capable of being happy.

I mean, imagine putting someone into a world where every wish they had was immediately granted. Would they be happy? Probably for awhile, but I don't think they would be happy for long. Imagine a dire or generally unpleasant situation, and imagine who could get through that and still be happy. Or maybe happy is the wrong word, but at least to not give up and to be kind to others. That sort of thing, being able to make the most out of any situation, is difficult and usually takes a lot of practice.

(Which isn't to say we should tolerate suffering because it's a good "learning experience" for someone. Maybe it is, but to be okay with someone else's suffering is also a learning experience that, in my opinion, reinforces the wrong sorts of behavior.)

Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#82

Post by nkmnz »

azth wrote: post #73
krapp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Morality doesn't presuppose religion, faith or belief in the supernatural. The religious can be amoral and selfish, atheists can be moral and selfless.

You can't have morality without religion, it's a senseless question to pose.

You can have religion without esotericism, mythicism and spirituality - then it’s called morality.

Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#83

Post by xabotage »

chippy wrote: post #14

There was an interesting little snippet I heard the other day, it was something like "the idea that Religions are things to do that improve ones life puts it in the self-help section of the bookshop." The answer to that I'm more foggy on but its something like "religion is something we are called to do, it's not a shelf in a bookstore or something to be bought into. It's the entire bookstore and it's the city the sto…

More appropriately, Religion is the rent-seeking landlord of the bookshop who skims all the profits, provides little to no value, and takes all the credit for the literacy of the townsfolk.

Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#84

Post by krapp »

azth wrote: post #73
krapp wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Morality doesn't presuppose religion, faith or belief in the supernatural. The religious can be amoral and selfish, atheists can be moral and selfless.

You can't have morality without religion, it's a senseless question to pose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_morality

https://theconversation.com/religion-does-not-determine-your...

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/homo-consumericus/20...

Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#87

Post by williamtrask »

This title could be more precise. It finds plenty of evidence across individuals who are religious and not (as have many studies) but little evidence temporally across the life of someone whose religiosity changes.

I’d be curious to know out of the 4000 surveyed individuals the percentage that experienced nontrivial changes in religiosity and whether the life patterns/worldview (community, sense of morality, perspective of human life, personal values, daily habits, charitability, etc.) they inherited from their religion also deteriorated.

Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#88

Post by azth »

krapp wrote: post #84
azth wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't have morality without religion, it's a senseless question to pose.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_morality https://theconversation.com/religion-does-not-determine-your... https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/homo-consumericus/20...

It's very straightforward to debunk the above: atheists don't believe in God. The implication is that everyone is "chemical scum", that there is no purpose to life, and that ultimately nothing matters. Therefore, it doesn't matter if we blow up the entire world, or make everyone suffer to please a handful of people, there are no consequences and nothing matters at the end of the day.

Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#89

Post by azth »

nkmnz wrote: post #82
azth wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't have morality without religion, it's a senseless question to pose.

You can have religion without esotericism, mythicism and spirituality - then it’s called morality.

Without an ultimate authority (God), it doesn't make sense.

Re: 20Y study finds little evidence religiosity leads to greater life satisfaction

#90

Post by jawns »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #68
Grimm1 wrote: post #42

Honestly, and completely anecdotally, having been raised Catholic I would expect it to result in quite the opposite when so much of the doctrine is based on guilt. That said before anyone jumps on me, also anecdotally, I haven't found any greater life satisfaction by not being religious either. You do you. The article says the study suggests there's not a really strong causal relationship in either way which surprise…

Not all religious experience are based so much on guilt. There are strains of Protestantism where the emphasis is much more on grace.

I'm Catholic, and although I acknowledge that many of my coreligionists have felt it, even to the point where "Catholic guilt" has its own Wikipedia entry, my experience is the opposite. It is through my faith that I have felt relieved from my guilt. Some people say that Catholicism makes them feel guilty for things they otherwise wouldn't feel guilty about, but for me, the recognition that I've sinned is apparent apart from whatever the Church might teach, but it is through the grace of the sacraments that I am relieved of that guilt.
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