Do you know any religious person who is truly happy?
Asked by
jackm (
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December 21st, 2009
I was raised Catholic, and went to Catholic grade school and high school. I had many encounters with religious people. I would say less than 5% of them seemed truly happy.
Now, maybe I am a bad judge of happiness, but it just seemed like most people who were religious seemed sad that they were not living up to the ridiculous standards set by religions.
But of course I could be totally wrong, and that is what fluther is for. Share your stories
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28 Answers
No. But that is because I can not read minds. I can not determine whether they are ‘truly happy’ (how do you define that anyway?)
They seemed quite happy though.
But then again I barely knew any people of whom I knew were religious, one was a girl, staunchly christian and creationist, one was a woman, an acquaintance of my mother and a Jehovah’s witness, the other two were a schoolmate and his father, a pastor, who also taught religious studies at school. That’s about it, not even a handful.
Are you kidding? so many religious people are so happy, it’s bordering on mental disease – I deal with cancer patients all day and all they ever talk about is how they don’t care they’ve got cancer, how they don’t need a nutritionist, they’ve got Jesus (no joke, someone did say that to me), how they don’t need support groups, the Lord is always with them (he’s a busy guy), etc…you should see the glee in their eyes…it’s all real, even if religion is not…their belief renders them illogical sometimes but it totally works for them..you know, like LSD works for others
I don’t think I know anyone who is “truly happy,” religious or not.
Christianity preaches love and happiness to those who follow Jesus and his teachings, but like any religion, it was created to make sense of life and all the messed up stuff that happens with it. People need a reason to believe their suffering has meaning, and believing in some entity which will care for you and give you all the comforts you need after death can be helpful with that. It provides you with a means to cope, but for others it can just be even more frustrating to see all the evil in the world and all the good they hope to find in the Afterlife.
However, you don’t need religion to feel jaded, cynical or any other negative emotion. Anyone who has been raised on the idea the “everyone is equal” and “you can do anything if you try” will soon find that is not the case in the real world. It takes a lot to be “truly happy” with one’s own existence, and I envy anyone who has achieved that state.
Most of the people that I know, that are happy, are religious.
Well, people who are religious are human…and being sad, is a human emotion. Neither religious, or non religious people can be truly happy all the time, 24/7. Show me someone like that, and I will say, “ahhhhh, aliens, truly do exist.”
Plenty of religious people are happy.
Just like plenty of Atheists are happy too.
For the record, being sad doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with your religion.
Religious people like non-religious people are complicated. I’ve never noticed that it’s make much of a difference, in terms of “happiness.” And it is very difficult to judge how happy a person really is, from the outside. Life, and happiness, and finding meaning, are complicated things that people have to find in their own way.
I agree with @ragingloli. You can’t read minds, and it is quite easy to fake happiness.
I’ve noticed the same thing. Many seem to live in terror of hell for doing something wrong, or getting a word wrong in saying the act of contrition, etc.
Billy Graham
Joel Osteen and his wife.
Deepak Chopra
To name just a few.
By the sane token, I’ve known many religious people who are quite happy. Some even smuggly confident of being “saved”.
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@stranger in a strange land, do you not like their smugness of thinking they are saved?” Does that bother you?
@smashbox as an agnostic, I resent the smugness of both the “born agains” and the “evangelical athiests”. Agnosticism is essentially humility, an admission that I don’t know
I am a Christian, and I will be the first to say I know a lot of happy Christians, and they creep me out.
@stranger in a strange land, but why do you resent these people, why?
Yes many.
But I am a former Catholic who found the Bahai faith and many of the people I spend time with are following a religion they chose to study independently and have found the truth within it for themselves.
My mom is also a former Episcopalian who became Catholic is is very happy with her faith.
I know quite a few “Religious” people who are very happy and quite content with their lives…
One is a 65 year old lady who is blind, has several other health related problems ; BUT is completely happy…
Yes. The one who sticks out in my mind is someone I graduated with. He was Homecoming King, is a newlywed, and has Cystic Fibrosis. He is a very happy guy.
Yes, of course. My oldest daughter, for one. My wife is another. And I’m a happy atheist. I fail to see what any of that has to do with being happy.
Yes, much of my family (on one side) is truly happy, and only one cousin and his wife are atheists. Personally I was much happier once I discarded Christianity, but people find fulfilment in different places. Whether religions are correct or not has nothing to do with the happiness of the members.
Hmm, I stand corrected. I guess the religious people I see are in the minority.
I think Barack Obama is a happy person. And he’s religious. I got this impression from reading his book ‘The Audacity of Hope’. I think he has found his inner peace.
@mattbrowne I certainly hope Obama is happy! Being President means a lot of pressure and potential for becoming a cynical, unhappy, constantly-stressed-out person. But he seems to have a great family life and his religion to keep him going.
@ParaParaYukiko – Yes, and he’s got a great family and learned the art of appreciating the little things in life.
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