A Comparison of Religiosity and Life Satisfaction among Seven Different Religious Groups

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to see if six widely used indicators of religiosity (self-reporting as being religious; importance of their religion to them; church membership, attendance and belonging to church groups; and praying) are related to happiness and life satisfaction. Using an on-line survey (N = 1399) I found that all except the frequency of prayer indicator were positively associated with life satisfaction and happiness. The sample was then broken into seven groups: Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Unitarian, Unity and no religion. Significant ANOVAs were found among the groups on each of my four questions: Life Satisfaction, Happiness, Not Feeling Lonely, and Group Satisfaction. Overall, Unity members scored high on these questions while the non-religious, Buddhists, and Unitarians scored low. The results for Unity, Unitarianism and Buddhism were discussed in terms of their doctrines accounting for these scores. Finally, recommendations were made for future research.