Religious people “much, much happier” than secularists

Arthur Brooks, author of the new release Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America—and How We Can Get More of It spoke at the Heritage Foundation to discuss his ideas on how America’s reported happiness levels are related to its various religious, political, and cultural perspectives.

Brooks said that in America, “all practicing religious groups are on average much, much happier than secularists,” the two happiest being evangelical Protestants and Orthodox Jews. Exceptions to this rule include those who have “harsh and controlling images of God” and those who believe in a religion but practice it infrequently. Brooks also said that people who fear death most are least happy, and that very religious people and atheists are least afraid of death.

Based on a 4 to 1 ratio of religious conservatives to religious liberals, and the assumption that religious people are happier than secularists, Brooks said that conservatives and Republicans are happier than liberals and Democrats. He said that even though there is a “good chance” that a Democrat will be elected to the White House this November, conservatives will find this depressing but will “still be happier people.” Brooks also said America is unlikely to secularize because religious people reproduce more than nonreligious people and are more likely to pass their views on to their children. According to Brooks, there is a 40 percent “baby gap” between religious and secular people, which means religious people have 40 percent more children than secularists. Between religious conservatives and secularist liberals, the baby gap is 80 percent. However, he said that while single, married, and widowed women are all happier than their male counterparts, divorced men are “much happier” than divorced women because the women typically have primary custody of children which increases unhappiness.

Possible reasons for religious people’s high happiness rates, according to Brooks, are “the hand of God” that directly makes them happy, increased “social collateral” that religious people tend to have through their spiritual communities, and a possible “genetic link” between faith and happiness.” Brooks said religious people are less likely to commit crimes, and more likely to stay married and display patterns of “good parenting.”

Brooks also mentioned European countries that have high levels of reported happiness despite a low 5 to 10 percent place of worship attendance rate, and said that while secularization can perhaps work for these countries, it cannot work for America.