Sometimes it helps to state the plain truth found in the data: religious people are happier than non-religious people. This is especially true for religious traditions that are more “high intensity” than those that take a more casual approach to religious belief and church attendance.
The reason I can say this is because the Pew Research Center recently released data from their 2023-2024 Religious Landscape Study, which surveyed about 37,000 adult Americans. The key question was fairly straightforward: “Generally, how happy are you with your life these days?” Three response options were provided: not too happy, pretty happy, and very happy.
It’s always useful to start with a simple overview of how people responded to that happiness question.
In the full sample, 28% of people reported being very happy, and 57% selected the middle option — “pretty happy.” Only a small portion of individuals are miserable: 15%. Breaking it
Unlock premium content!
Get access to all Church Answers premium content from our expert contributors plus many other membership benefits.
$9.97 per month
Unlimited access
