Parshall Partners

Happy Church Goers

         How many of us remember that old Sunday School song that says, “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands…” Turns out happiness and church attendance goes hand in hand.

         Ryan Burge, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, has done some pretty interesting research on who are the happiest people in America.  He wrote an article where he states, very clearly:

“I’m just going to say the one true thing that shows up over and over again in the literature: religious people self-identify as happier than non-religious people. There’s just no mistaking that conclusion. There are ways to try and explain it away, certainly. For instance, maybe the causal arrow goes the opposite way — happier people tend to be more religious. But the upshot is still the same: religious nones are less happy than folks who identify with a faith tradition”.

         He also wrote an analysis of Pew Research Religious Landscape date where he stated:

“Highly active religious people are happier than non-religious people. There’s no other way to spin this data than this simple conclusion … People who identify as Christians are significantly more likely to be very happy compared to those who are non-religious.” 

         The 2023-2024 Pew Religious Landscape survey wanted to know about levels of happiness so they surveyed 37,000 people and asked, “how happy are you”? 28% said very happy, 58% said pretty happy and only 13% weren’t too happy.  But Burge noted that when in-person religious attendance is factored into the question, the results change.

         The more someone attended Church, the happier they were. Those who went to Church on a yearly basis were 6% points more likely to be happy compared with those who never went. Monthly attenders were happier than those who went yearly; weekly attenders were happier than those who went monthly; and those who went multiple times per week were the happiest. There is an undisputed corollary between how happy someone self-identifies and how many times they go to Church.

         So, this raises the question: Why does going to church make someone happier?  A couple of Harvard researchers dug into that question and found regular church attendance resulted in greater longevity, less depression and suicide, less substance abuse, better cancer and heart disease survival, less divorce, more meaning in life, more volunteering and more community involvement.

         David writes in the Psalms that he was “glad when they said onto me, let us go to the House of the Lord.” Hebrews reminds that we should “not neglect the meeting together with one another”.  The Word tells us that we are One Body in Christ and that we should “stir up one another to love and good works”.

         D.L. Moody once said, “Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man”. If you’re happy and you know it…clap your hands, if you want.  But be sure to go to church.

         Those are my thoughts.  I’m Janet Parshall.