Atheism’s Least Favorite Science

There are several well-known personalities who have become famous, in part, by challenging the existence of God and organized religion. Science is often used to discredit the validity of God, by pitting evolution vs. creation theory, or demanding scientific evidence of God’s existence, etc.

This tactic continues today, despite religious leaders such as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who have stated that holy texts were never meant to be science books.

As it says on the Amazon page for his book, The Great Partnership: Science, Religion, and the Search for Meaning:

Science teaches us where we come from. Religion explains to us why we are here. Science is the search for explanation. Religion is the search for meaning. We need scientific explanation to understand nature. We need meaning to understand human behavior.

Still, there are secular rationalists who try to portray religious believers as stupid (how many of them are smarter than this man?). But there is one branch of science that is sometimes ignored by outspoken atheists: the social sciences.

Recently, a survey called “Relationships in America” (sponsored by The Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture) examined whether religious people are happier. Forty-five (45) percent of people who attend a religious service weekly described themselves as “very happy” in the survey, compared to just 28% of those who never attend.

According to the authors of the survey:

The link between religion and various psychological states has been the subject of many social scientific studies, many of which have found a connection between self-reported happiness and religious practices…Research has suggested that religious faith may be adept in its ability to offer significance and meaning to life, that religious coping mechanisms can improve physical and emotional health, that faith can be a powerful motivating force, and that congregants may receive emotional support from others in their congregations.

It seems odd that the people who are found by social scientists to be generally happier, emotionally healthier and living with greater meaning are portrayed as dumb. Did I mention the longer lives?

Just about very study done on the connection between religion and well-being shows that the two go hand in hand…research shows that people who belong to a faith-based community – regardless of the particular faith – and attend at least four times per month may live as much as 14 years longer than people who don’t. – Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way by Dan Buettner (page 227).

To be fair, some atheists/skeptics/agnostics are catching on to the power of ritual and community. Writing in The New York Times, T. M. Luhrmann, a professor of anthropology at Stanford University, notes that an increasing number of secular people are banding together to experience the power of communal rituals.

As it happens, this kind of God-neutral faith is growing rapidly, in many cases with even less role for God than among Unitarians. Atheist services have sprung up around the country, even in the Bible Belt.

Many of them are connected to Sunday Assembly, which was founded in Britain by two comedians, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans. They are avowed atheists. Yet they have created a movement that draws thousands of people to events with music, sermons, readings, reflections and (to judge by photos) even the waving of upraised hands.

But why settle for an imitation? For those Jews like me who are looking for greater simcha (Jewish joy), one of our best bets is the local synagogue/shul/beit knesset. According to the research, the more we actively participate, the more likely we are to increase our level of happiness, as well as the simcha of the other congregants.

Sounds pretty smart to me…

Photo Credit: Seeking Simcha

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