Happiness is an emotion that every human possesses. What I want to cover in this thread is the degree of happiness, perhaps one that would endure through good and bad times. I believe that the religious are more happy than the non-religious (or they can be, in theory) because of what they base their happiness on. In my view, the religious simply based a lot of their happiness on things or beliefs that don't fail or that are seen as enduring (e.g. eternal life, an omnipotent God or source, etc.). This is not to say that their belief is valid or that happiness proves anything beyond just happiness, but it does speak to their happiness being more than that of the nonreligious or at least having the ability to be.

But moving on from my personal view and debate it.

For Debate:
Are the religious and/or spiritual more happy than the non-religious?
 
The theistic religious have hope. Hope in the afterlife.
Having something to look forward to is part of happiness imo. Just like we look forward to Christmas.
And it eases grief. That we will be reunited with loved ones.
How do atheists deal with grief?
 
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How do atheists deal with grief?
I've met some atheists who are also Buddhists or even claim to be spiritual. I would find it hard to not consider God in that position but it's at least more than someone who rejects all religion and spirituality. Either way, one benefit that the religious/spiritual have over non-religious atheists is that they can do all of the things that atheists can do and more. Non-religious atheists will usually rely on things like psychology (like positive thinking), friends, perhaps drinking, medication (legal or illegal), etc. The religious can also rely on all of these ordinary/natural things but they also have all of the transcendent/spiritual things (God, miracles, the afterlife, faith, etc) to base their happiness on.

Although, I think just the spiritual alone can lead one to lasting happiness but having BOTH options (natural and spiritual sources) is an obvious benefit.
 
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