I agree. I’d also point out the oft-repeated point that “correlation does not imply causation”.
My own hypothesis would be to conclude that “social support causes happiness” and that religion is not important at all except that religious communities have an historical association with social support networks.
Have you specifically LOOKED for a correlation? i.e. have you attended a church to see how its members behave? I won’t say this is why I went to church, because it had more to do with a) liking the music, social atmosphere, etc and b) wanting to understand how someone could ‘believe’ things that seemed so irrational. (And now I think I understand that better.)
My sample is not small in terms of people, but it may not be representative in terms of demographics, and a lot of the people do come from the same church, so in that sense it’s biased.
In theory. But in practice, this is the correlation I’ve noted.
Do you have a point other than “hey, here’s a correlation”? I haven’t found any correlation, personally.
I agree. I’d also point out the oft-repeated point that “correlation does not imply causation”.
My own hypothesis would be to conclude that “social support causes happiness” and that religion is not important at all except that religious communities have an historical association with social support networks.
Have you specifically LOOKED for a correlation? i.e. have you attended a church to see how its members behave? I won’t say this is why I went to church, because it had more to do with a) liking the music, social atmosphere, etc and b) wanting to understand how someone could ‘believe’ things that seemed so irrational. (And now I think I understand that better.)
I too have noticed this. In fact, most of your post could have been written about me.
Would you mind explaining how? I would like to see more of other people’s observations, since mine are likely to be biased.
How large is your sample? My impression is that most religious people don’t get nearly as much good out of their religion as the folks you know.
My sample is not small in terms of people, but it may not be representative in terms of demographics, and a lot of the people do come from the same church, so in that sense it’s biased.
However you must prove both a lack of selection-bias and a suitable sample-size before that correlation is meaningful. :)