Some researchers are so confident that religion makes people happier, and healthier, that they want it to be prescribed by doctors (1). In an earlier post, I debunked the health claim: the seeming benefits of religion can be attributed to social support, health behavior, and other secular factors. Now I want to question the claim that religion makes people happier.
One of the best-known findings is that religion protects people against depression. According to a 2003 meta analysis (2) that combined the results of 147 different studies, religiosity explains less than 1% of the differences in vulnerability to depression. If religion has such small correlations with depression, it may not be a huge factor in happiness either.
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