(Read the full text of the BBC article here)

I think what we have here is an argument from final consequences. If the practice or profession of religious faith causes you to report greater satisfaction with your life, it must be a good thing, right? Well, perhaps. But don't you care about the objective truth of the claims made by your particular religion? Does it matter to you whether a man three days dead actually got up and walked around again, as long as thinking he did makes you happy? Does it make any difference whether Moses really did part the Red Sea, so long as saying so adds meaning to your existence? Is there any need to question whether Mohammed flew to Jerusalem on horseback and took off for heaven, when slavish devotion to Allah brings so much...uh...what is it you get out of that again?

The point is, the result of a belief (or the subjective report of that result) has no bearing on the veracity of the belief itself. A thing is not necessarily good for you just because it makes you feel good. Hence the heroin remark above. And as with heroin, the thing that makes you feel good today can lead to great harm later. The propensity to believe despite the absence of evidence (or even in the presence of contrary evidence) can open the door to other, more harmful beliefs in quack medicine, a wide variety of pseudo-science, investment scams and other frauds that could have been prevented by a modicum of healthy skepticism. People literally die from unfounded beliefs, and sometimes the beliefs of others.

But I also question the report of religious people that they are in fact "happier." First of all, happier than what? Than they were before they found religion? Possibly, but it is equally likely that in addition to adding religious faith t their lives, they have made other changes that typically lead to improvements in their lives. Coincident with a religious conversion, we often see a cessation of drug or alcohol abuse, a new or renewed commitment to marriage and family life, and greater attention to one's work and professional obligations. The believer will say that these things are a direct result of their newfound faith, but non-religious people experience exactly the same kinds of changes without the purported intervention of a deity. How does that happen? Obviously, correlation does not equal causation.

Furthermore, far too many believing Christians (to cite the most common example in my experience) think they are supposed to be happy just because of their faith in Jesus. They know they should be experiencing "the peace that passeth all understanding." I fully expect a significant number of those reporting greater happiness in their lives as a result of religious belief fall into this category.

Most telling of all is the things religious people do not claim for their belief, specifically that it is God himself who makes them happy. Rather, it is the belief that does the trick.

 

"...Justin Thacker, head of Theology for the Evangelical Alliance, said that there should now be no doubt about the connection between religious belief and happiness.

"'There is more than one reason for this—part of it will be the sense of community and relationships fosters, but that doesn't account for all of it.

"'A large part of it is due to the meaning, purpose and value which believing in God gives you, whereas not believing in God can leave you without those things'."

None of this is unavailable to the non-believer. Community and relationships arise anywhere people come together,be it at a university, a gun club, or even in a secular humanist gathering. And the final statement, that "not believing in God can leave you without" meaning, purpose and value is patently false. History is replete with examples of non-believers who filled their lives with meaning and purpose. If anything, truly creative people manage to imbue their existence with even greater purpose than those who live under the dictatorship of an imaginary being.