I have a theory about why religious people test happier than others. Religious people usually go to church, attend various church activities, see the same people, make friends with like minded people, and talk about the same things. Church becomes a community, a bonding place, something to look forward to. What's not to like? It's a place where a higher power rules, the specifics of your religion are made crystal clear and clarity is easier than nonclarity in the moral sphere. People like being rewarded by a group for following the rules (or pretending to). You don't have to question morality or what is right and wrong: it comes commanded and demanded, all you have to do is agree with it.
Cynical? I think a lot would say so and maybe I am. It's easy to give to charity when you are told you have to, it's more authentic when you don't have to, but do it anyway. It's easy to turn to a book to back you up in everything from spanking your kid to what to eat. It's more work to understand and talk to your child and research food options. Leading a good life on your own terms, doing right and helping others, and being generous with what you have to give, is a splendid way to live from birth to death. I like the idea of doing it because it increases joy and decreases suffering and I don't believe there is a meaning to life; I believe there is only the meaning we give to life - a meaning we create by our actions and beliefs.
But for those that do it to please a higher power, or desire to go a place called Heaven in the hopes of avoiding a place called Hell, or "because the good book tells me to", well, if you have to do it for those reasons, then I guess its better than worshipping greed and evil.
However I see a lot of religious leaders that seem to fill the seats with an evangelical fervor for materialism that they ascribe to God, that I question. I really want to know, "Why does God want a Mercedes and a Porsche in my garage?" What do the Amish get? A new buggy? How about the blind? A new seeing eye dog? Why can't I get a Mercedes because I want one? And buy my neighbor the operation to restore his sight? That would make me very happy. I had a Shelby Cobra once and frankly, all else pales beside that except the ability to buy the end of suffering if it has a price tag, and increase joy.
