Happy and religious: the picture is clear

Photo: Airam Dato-on

Is this a matter of cause and effect? See the following two headlines appearing adjacent to each other on news sites:

Gallup poll: More than half of Americans rarely go to church 

Less Than Half of Americans "Very Satisfied" With Own Lives

Religion News Services reports the findings this way, with the Nones ‒ those mainly young people who have no religious affiliation ‒ the standouts:

More than half of Americans (56 per cent) say they seldom or never attend religious services, according to new data from Gallup. Less than a third (30 per cent) say they attend on a weekly or almost weekly basis.

Gallup found that almost all of the so-called Nones (95 per cent) say they seldom or never attend services. More than half of Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Orthodox Christians say they rarely attend as well.

Overall, the percentage of Americans who never attend services has more than doubled since the early 1990s.

Weighing on this question is this:

The difference between how older and younger people in the U.S. rate their lives, according to the 2024 Gallup World Happiness Report. Americans over 60 rated their lives at an average “life evaluation” of 7.2 on a scale of one to 10, the 10th-highest globally, while the average evaluation for those under 30 stood at only 6.4. Low youth sentiment dragged down the U.S.’s overall happiness ranking, pulling it out of the top 20 “happiest” countries for the first time. ‒ Semafor

The RNS article continues:

Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey Jones said the decline in attendance is driven mostly by generational shifts. Not only are younger Americans less likely to identify with any religion, they are also less likely to have been raised with a religion.

“If you were raised in a religion and you have fallen away, you can come back to it,” he said. “Younger people, a lot of times, weren’t brought up in any religion. So they don’t have anything to come back [to].” 

Gallup’s findings echo the data from other major organizations, such as Pew Research Center, that track religion and other cultural trends and have found both religious identity and participation are declining.

A recent Pew study found that most Americans believe religion’s influence is waning. Half think that is a bad thing. The other half think the decline is good or don’t care.

If they believe the decline in religious practice doesn't matter, they should take note of the findings of the second article, which Gallup presents in this form:

 STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 47% “very” satisfied with their personal lives; one point shy of record low
• 78% very or somewhat satisfied; down five points since last year
• Satisfaction highest among upper-income, married, religious adults

The factors relating to the highest satisfaction warrant a mention. Those with higher education, and therefore with a higher income, are the people who make a commitment in marriage, and they are also alert to the value of religious participation.

According to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center:

💢  American Christians are more likely to have college degrees than the general population. 

💢 Highly educated Christians in the United States are more likely to attend church than those with lower education levels. 

💢 On a scale measuring levels of religious commitment, over 70% of Christians in the United States who are educated demonstrate high levels of religiosity.

From a more recent Pew study, these comments:

💢 “Nones” tend to vote less often, do less volunteer work in their communities and follow public affairs at lower rates than religiously affiliated people do.

💢[P]eople who describe their religion as “nothing in particular” tend to have lower levels of educational attainment than religiously affiliated U.S. adults.

💢 By a variety of measures, religious “nones” are less civically engaged and socially connected than people who identify with a religion. On average, they are less likely to vote, less likely to have volunteered lately, less satisfied with their local communities and less satisfied with their social lives.

💢 When asked how they decide between right and wrong, 83% of “nones” say the desire to avoid hurting other people is a key factor. And 82% of “nones” say logic and reason are extremely or very important when they decide between right and wrong.

This chart from Gallup of its latest findings shows how personal lives are shaped for the good by a willingness to marry and to put one's life in the hands of a divine being, the pre-eminent markers of a person who puts the other, the community before self.

With the World Happiness Report we get confirmation that those who most ignore the religious or transcendental dimension—speaking of the young—fail to gain from the solid foundation it provides to build personal meaning and a sense of direction in life. 

Professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, the director of Oxford's Wellbeing Research Centre and another editor of the World Happiness Report, said the research should ring an alarm for policy-makers.

"We documented disconcerting drops especially in North America and Western Europe," he said.

"To think that, in some parts of the world, children are already experiencing the equivalent of a mid-life crisis demands immediate policy action."

Policies that promote respect for religion and the parental involvement in care of children are what is needed. As to the first element, such policies are unlikely when the unhinged ideology of self-invention has infiltrated so many key social institutions. 

Secondly, the policies needed urgently are like that instituted in Florida and other states where parents are required to take a more involved role in their children's use of social media. On that, see these news reports: here and here; and this interview with Jonathan Haidt, the foremost researcher into why the West's young people are so depressed and confused.

Grace builds on nature, and that's where we have to start, that is, in ensuring the basic virtues of a life in which parents look after their children, and young people show a willingness to take part in caring for the welfare of the whole of society, with less focus on themselves. In that way, the goodness of God reveals itself.

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