Does faith make you happy?

Does faith make you happy?

content.usatoday.com

A CDC released a four-year, 1.3 million-person study on happiness: Apparently the happiest Americans are in Louisiana, while the Empire State (N.Y.) is leaving people least satisfied.

The CDC speculates this has to do with things like sunshine hours, congestion, cost of living, air quality and availability of public land. Not on the list of criteria: religiosity

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From the article:
If you compare the ranking of happiest states to the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey, is it interesting that New York has almost double the people who report "no religion" as Louisiana (14% vs. 8%)? Or not, since Florida, which ranked third in happiness, tied with New York for "Nones"?

Previous, smaller studies have found that spirituality and higher levels of religious behavior account for 5% of an adult's happiness and 16.5% of a child's.

Are those that deem themselves a person of faith happier in general? Is it the calming effect of thinking you know or actually knowing? Is it God or just the belief in it's existence?

content.usatoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Why in the hell is the CDC wasting time and money on a study like this?



Which is easier to have faith in.... God or Government?

I beleive in God because I think there is one.

What does happiness have to do with it?

It is our responsibility to find happiness which can only be found in the small things in life. I thought that was common sense?

Everyone has just the right amount of faith.

Too many people place their faith in the wrong thing.

Misplaced faith is a gargantuan problem.

"Faith" is being given a broad definition in this article.

Faith in something can be, but is not always, restricted to religiosity. It can also be as broad as faith in nature or the universe or mankind as a whole, for example.

My personal experience is that people who believe in nothing at all tend to be more misanthropic, more cynical, and more depressive than those who find something--no matter how small-- to believe in. It gives one strength to carry on through hardships and disillusionment.

It's important to have some kind of hope in the struggle that is human existence.

reply to post by badmoviefan



When times are tough, like for most of us on earth, god is something i think is good for us. The fact that we do not walk alone, means alot to alot of people.

If you do not believe thats your choice, but i do. I am happy having an inferiority complex. Why do you people need to have the ego, to fill the whole universe with athiest tripe like dawkins.

Spiritual matters is the first reason why people get depressed, and lack of faith.

I belive in god as well, jesus, and have much fith int hem, always will. when i have faith in something new, like a new job, new something, and it dosnt work out then i get depressed or brought down over it...so ive learend to use faith only in self religious reasons and instances..having faith in for example or current financial ssytem is a HUGE depressing let down, as well as wall street, governemnt, ect...i wouldnt put too much faith in things like that, bring you too your knees quick emotionaly..
the problem with nY, is not lack of public land,a nd all that was mentioned, with the exception of cost of life* NY is a buisness area, nd in business theirs lots of fighting yelling screaming, stress, job terminations over the dumbest things imaginable, used on a corporate professinal level, and lawsuites* thats the problem with NY

At least when the drug dealers n low income people more or less owned NY, at leat they were happy....yeah violent crime was up too but hey people were happy. Corporate business moved in, pushed em all out, impsed a quiet money laundering crime, cleaned thing sup and NO one is happy...thats what i gather form it all.

i think that faith will make an individual infinitely sustain-ably happy as long as that which the individual has faith in is never materialized/objectified.when a person has faith and the object of their faith is made real and not imaginary; then their happiness will cease to exist or their faith will have to differ from origin.

i live in Louisiana and i think its the happiest state because people have to come to terms with their being more than in other areas where forgetting about who you are and living is part of your success.

Originally posted by Walkswithfish

Which is easier to have faith in.... God or Government?

Answer:
God, the powers on Earth that manage His dealings only ask for 10% of my income...

Cupcakes and French fries make me happy.

But that doesnt mean that they are good for me.

There is a difference between "Faith", "Blind Faith", "Indoctrination of Faith", "Fabricated Faith", "False Faith", "Ignorant Faith", "Arrogant Faith", "Ill Faith", "Natural Faith" and "True Faith".

...and every existing tangible and non-tangible object and life form in the entire world including the actions towards and from these objects have their very own list of different types of faith.

The world is a very complex matrix, experience what you can before you cross over to the next realm.

maybe since the weather is warming in the south that is why their faith makes them happier? Or the fact that in the North we have to deal with the drastic change in temperatures that makes us having less faith. Cause in the northern region here it seems like people are so busy to do nothing. You see it on the streets a rush to go nowhere. My faith makes me happy, but doesn't always keep me warm at night.

reply to post by badmoviefan


Could you perhaps compare how happy they are to their IQ's in each state?

Perhaps its not god...

having faith isnt enough, just get out there and do it.

[edit on 113131p://12America/Chicago18 by ProRipp]

reply to post by the_denv


All you are doing is qualifying and quantifying the abstract intangible thing called faith.

You make intellectual judgments about a thing that cannot be quatnified or qualified.

What makes one happy or sad or fearful or angry is the aspiration that they place their faith upon and about.

Can faith make you happy??
That depends entirely about how you employ your free will to choose the aspiration or object of your faith.