Forget about those grumpy people sitting in the pew next to you who never speak or the people who walk past you in the halls racing to beat the Baptist to Luby’s…religion makes people nicer. Maybe.
Paul Bloom makes the case…or not…that religious people are nicer.
There is evidence within the United States for a correlation between religion and what might broadly be called “niceness.”
In Gross National Happiness, Arthur Brooks notes that atheists are less charitable than their God-fearing counterparts: They donate less blood and are less likely to offer change to homeless people on the street. Since giving to charity makes one happy, Brooks speculates that this could be one reason why atheists are so miserable.
In a 2004 study, twice as many religious people say that they are very happy with their lives, while the secular are twice as likely to say that they feel like failures.
But not so fast.
Society Without God by Phil Zuckerman looks at the Danes and the Swedes—perhaps the most “godless” people on Earth.
They don’t go to church or pray in the privacy of their own homes; they don’t believe in God or heaven or hell. But…they’re nice to one another. They have a famously expansive welfare and health care service. They have a strong commitment to social equality. And—even without belief in a God looming over them—they murder and rape one another significantly less frequently than Americans do.
A 2005 study by Gregory Paul looking at 18 democracies found that the more atheist societies tended to have relatively low murder and suicide rates and relatively low incidence of abortion and teen pregnancy.
The positive effect of religion in the real world is tied to a community component—rather than a belief in constant surveillance by a higher power. Humans are social beings, and we are happier, and better, when connected to others.
The Danes and the Swedes, despite being godless, have strong communities. Most Danes and Swedes identify themselves as Christian. They get married in church, have their babies baptized, give some of their income to the church, and feel attached to their religious community—they just don’t believe in God.
Bloom has simplified it for us all. It’s not about God, its about community. Just donate blood, give some money to the homeless guy on the corner, and make some friends and all of our issues will go away.
No wonder we keep hearing all of the megachurch Pastors preaching on community and getting connected.
