Happiness and Religion

Happiness and Religion

Happiness and religion are two terms that are normally used in the same context. On the one hand, happiness is the state of subjective well-being of people expressed with positive emotions and the absence of negative emotions. On the other side, religion is the beliefs and perceptions held by people in society concerning the world. The relationship between religion and happiness is that religion affects the level of happiness in a person. However, the impact of religion on happiness depends on beliefs, context and the individual. For instance, in places where people are poor, religion tends to be the main source of happiness since it is an only consolation, while in places where people are of medium class or rich, religion seems not to contribute a lot to their happiness.

The Article

The article that was selected for this discussion was written by Sander (2017). This article is entitled ‘Religion, Religiosity, and Happiness’ (Sander, 2017). Religious beliefs are a source of happiness because of various reasons. According to Sander (2017), one of the reasons is that when one has religious beliefs, there is that feeling of having a close relationship with God. The relationship with God comforts people when they are faced with troubles, and it forms the foundation of self-esteem in which they feel unconditionally loved, cared for and valued (Sander, 2017). The interpretations of their situations with relevant Biblical characters help religious believers to have peace and calm in their minds which results in happiness. Religious people belief that God will always intervene whenever the situation is bad. Thus, they remain calm, and they always have peace of mind.

The other reason is that being a religious person means that you belong to a church, mosque or temple (Sander, 2017). Belonging to one of these religious communities above provides a sense of identity and fellowship, which might be a source of social support. The members usually console and comfort each other in times of trouble, thus ensuring positive emotions, moods and a sense of self-satisfaction (happiness) (Santiago & Edwin, 2014). The last reason is that religious believers have hope that God is in control and that anything that happens has a purpose (Sander, 2017). Therefore, when a crisis occurs such as death, illness or traumatic occurrences, religious people easily find divine answers to them, which clears their negative emotions and moods, making them happy.

Religious people tend to be friendly and offer social support to others. They believe in helping others, whether they know somebody or not, on the assumption that God’s Love is for all. They are ready to help others when they are in need to emulate God’s Love and Mercy to the world. According to religious teachings, judging others is not allowed and therefore, religious people tend to avoid being prejudiced (Sander, 2017). Perhaps that is why religious people are ready to help others regardless of the relationship or familiarity.

In conclusion, since religious people tend to be optimistic and maintain positive emotions, their health tends to be good. They have minimal stress. Thus, it is not easy to develop chronic diseases such as ulcers and other stress-related diseases.

References

Sander, W. (2017). Religion, Religiosity, and Happiness. Review of Religious Research, 59(2), 251-262.

Santiago, A., & Edwin, P. (2014). The relationship of family, church, school, peers, media, and Adventist culture to the religiosity of Adventist youth in Puerto Rico.

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