An article at Slate looks at the data showing that atheists are less happy than religious people and theorizes that we unbelievers are not unhappy because we don’t believe in God, but because we feel excluded from the larger community. In a highly religious nation, those without faith find themselves on the outside, looking in.
The validity of that argument probably depends on the context of the individual atheist. An atheist living in a rural Texas town is probably going to feel more isolated than an atheist living in a major city like Chicago or Boston. But the inherent appeal of a communitarian faith life is strong. Nobody likes to feel alone and American churches–especially the big ones–excel at welcoming strangers into a large community that doesn’t ask many questions about where they’re from, what they do for a living, and so on. The only thing required for membership is belief.
Human happiness is a fluid thing and I’m always a little suspicious of efforts to measure it. So much of life is spent somewhere in between the polar extremes of bliss and misery. And there’s a fine line between unhappiness and melancholy. For me, this life is the only chance I’ll get and the implications can seem overwhelming. I have only one life to fill with experiences and there simply isn’t time for everything. That awareness leads to sadness only if it’s accompanied by passivity.
