Study Finds Practicing Christians More Hopeful, Happy

Research has confirmed that people who actively practice their faith are more hopeful and are less likely to be unhappy in periods of isolation as those imposed by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“We find that being religious significantly reduces the negative mental health outcomes associated with Covid-19 incidence in one’s social network,” the researchers wrote.

They noted that “if a respondent [of the survey] displayed high religious attendance in the past, this helped them to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 on their mental health.”

The research also discovered that the benefits presented by practicing faith were “strongly driven by attendance at religious services,” not just belief or praying.

As a whole, “religious people, on average, have better mental health than non-religious people,” according to the research. “We find that the worsening of mental health associated with Covid-19 was around 60% higher for non-religious individuals compared to individuals with similar characteristics having average levels of religiosity,” the authors added.

The link between positive mental health and faith comes as more than a quarter of Americans identify as religious “nones.”

Of those “nones,” 17% are atheist, 20% are agnostic, and 63% are “nothing in particular,” Pew Research reported.

Sixty percent of the religious “nones” reported that they “question a lot of religious teachings.”

Religious “nones” are also “less civically engaged and socially connected than people who identify with a religion,” Pew explained. “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.”