secular nations most happy

lady of shallot · Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:01 pm

Today's paper had an article about the happiness of different nations as determined by a Gallup poll. U.S.A. is at # 12 as 59% of the population identifies themselves as satisfied. Denmark is the most happy, Chad the least. Only 12% of China citizens say they are satisfied.

An interesting observation was that the secular nations were most happy.

readerwalker · Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:18 pm

I've read similar reports about secular counties being happier, but they seem to ignore other important factors, such a wealth -- Denmark is surely much wealthier than Chad. If this topic interests you I recommend Eric Weiner's 2008 book, The Geography of Bliss. He's an experienced journalist and world traveler who visited and described happiness or its absence in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Qatar, Iceland, Moldova, Thailand, Great Britain, India, and the U.S. (where he grew up and lives when not traveling). Two of the countries in his book where people are happy for reasons that surprised me are Switzerland (chapter 2) and Iceland (chater 5). I read most of the book when I first checked it out from our public library here in Tallahassee and than later picked up a remainder copy at Borders for $5 because I liked it so much and want to reread several chapters and show them to friends.

lady of shallot · Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:07 am

Thank you for the reference, I will check it out. I recently read Salamina which is a memoir of Rockwell Kent's stay in Greenland in the mid '30s. Of course this is not meant to be a survey or study but the people he wrote of, would be by our standards, completely poverty stricken (10 or 12 people living in a 10' sq. house, that would be difficult to stand upright in) Yet they seemed as diverse in their personalities and attitudes and certainly no less happy than people in the US at this time.

Frank 013 · Thu Apr 28, 2011 11:57 am


	Quote: readerwalker I've read similar reports about secular counties being happier, but they seem to ignore other important factors, such a wealth -- Denmark is surely much wealthier than Chad.

There are many factors that are underling but unaddressed… many religious beliefs are exclusive and it has been shown in some of the studies mentioned that they create bigotry, stagnate women’s rights, are a danger to education and foster ill-will/persecution of homosexuals and people of alternate beliefs.

These “side effects” create tension in society and it stands to reason that at least some people would be unhappy about it.

In the studies mentioned above the tensions I addressed have also been recorded as lessened per capita in secular modern societies.

While absence of religion may not make a person happy, what studies like this do show is that religion is not necessary for happiness… in fact from the studies I have seen it appears very possible that the exceptionally religious have a tendency of making the people around them unhappy.

Later

lady of shallot · Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:02 pm

Frank:


	Quote: While absence of religion may not make a person happy,

What I notice esp in my family and also in the past, in friends; is that religious people feel themselves much more judged by others. They are much, much more concerned with what others think of them. Conversely if they think they are head and shoulders above the other members of their particular religious persuasion or that their expression of it is more fulsome in some way, they are rather arrogant and prideful.

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