Praising God brings you joy, says a new study by Harris Interactive which found that Americans who define themselves as “very religious” are among the happiest. While just over one-third of Americans define themselves as “very happy” (35 percent), those who describe themselves as “very religious” are more likely to call themselves “very happy” (45 percent). However, of those who call themselves “not religious,” just over a quarter (28 percent) were also very happy.

 

Those who pray at home or engage in daily prayer also fared better on the happiness scale. Over four in ten people (43 percent) who practice daily prayer or religious study are very happy. Only just over a quarter (28 percent) of those who said they “never” pray or study at home are also, according to the study, very happy. Are more religious people truly happier than the general population?

 

“I could say this is true,” says Ken Jones, MD, who practiced psychiatry for nearly two decades, and has provided anger management classes at his local church for about seven years. He is the author of the forthcoming Still Waters: Finding Peace in an Angry World, a life management guide for Christians.

 

“I have found that people who are giving of themselves into service of others, rather than people who take from others, seem to be much happier,” Jones says. “The people who serve in their church, are the same people who serve in their community in other ways, by volunteering with the Scouts, or for [their kids’] soccer and baseball teams.” And, that sense of belonging that comes with service to the community is also essential to happiness, Jones says. Socialization, he says, “reaffirms life.”

 

This shift in priorities from self to other is a main reason why the religious are happier, Jones contends. When one possesses unselfish motives, and one's values lie in feeling secure with God, “not how much money you make,” happiness comes more easily, adds Jones.

 

Nun and psychologist Patricia Berliner, PhD agrees that priorities influence degrees of happiness. “What are the priorities of spiritual people? To be true to self and others, to live out the gifts we have been given, in generosity and joy. [For example,] what you have received as a gift, give as a gift,” Berliner explains.

 

Having faith adds to one’s joy and sense of peace. “To have a trust in life and living. To be exuberant. To be real [as opposed to being] holy roller or holier-than- thou types,” Berliner adds. “To know that all is gift to us and that all of us are gifted, and to discover, embrace and share those gifts.  To know that alone we can do only so much, but that together in the human community, we could do and be so much more.”

 

Values are key to finding happiness, Jones says. Citing his professional experience as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, he recalls the many divorces and unhappy marriages that he witnessed. The destructive dynamics of extramarital affairs is one example: “When men thought they could find happiness with more sex, or women with more security, they found themselves to be very unhappy,” Jones explains.

 

“If you feel close to God, you don’t emphasize keeping up with the Joneses. I find this to be the case no matter what religion people practice,” Jones says.

 

Berliner agrees. “In essence, all religions that are life giving say pretty much the same things. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' is pretty basic,” Berliner explains. “In the medical tradition, it is the Hippocratic Oath, ‘above all do no harm.’  In layman's terms it sometimes breaks down to ‘be careful what you say or do, because it might come right back to you.’"

Whatever the name, Berliner says, spiritualism serves a purpose. “To be spiritual almost doesn't have to have an identified deity, but to be faithful to, alive in, and generous with one's own spirit and its gifts pretty much embodies the definition,” she maintains. “Religion itself doesn't make us happy. Living in the spirit of being one with all creation, but not the source, owner, or controller of creation can free us.”

Having a positive belief system helps too, Berliner tells demo dirt. “Having something to hold to, turn to, value in times of trouble, pain, sorrow, and inexplicable happenings, helps us to believe that there is meaning, purpose, and goodness in a world that could otherwise seem cruel, senseless, and overwhelming.”