Are religious people really happier and more charitable?
Myers objects to my claim that religious people are happier and more generous than secular folk. He points out that, given the recent domination of America by the religious right, he would be “gobsmacked” if surveys found secular folk to be happier than believers. But surveys show that it doesn’t matter which party is in power; conservatives and religious believers have been happier for as long as the surveys have been done. To the extent that circumstances matter for happiness, they are local circumstances mostly involving relationships, not geopolitical ones. Myers further objects that atheists should not be expected to be as generous because it is hard for them to find non-religious charities. Most of the appeals he gets come from religious groups that he does not trust. He and I seem to have gotten ourselves on radically different mailing lists — I get no such appeals. But even if most atheists receive mostly religious appeals, as long as they also get a few each year from secular
