Are Atheists and Agnostics Unhappy and Immoral?

President Trump said at the National Prayer Breakfast that he believes people "can't be happy without religion, without that belief....Let's bring religion back. Let's bring God back into our lives."

Is it true that you can’t be happy without religion?

Not in my experience. I have known atheists who are happy, but perhaps my sample is skewed. It isn’t, after all, a scientific sample. Maybe I tend to associate with upbeat, optimistic people, some of whom are avowed nonbelievers.

So what does research reveal about the relationship between happiness and religion? Is it true that you can’t be happy without religion? And if we want a happy nation, is bringing God back into our lives a necessary condition?

The president doesn’t say which religion he promotes, although it is safe to assume that it is only one of the three Abrahamic religions. It is far from clear whether the God Trump has in mind is vengeful or merciful, a close companion or distant judge, loving or demanding. Leaving these institutional and theological issues aside, what do we know about the relationship between happiness and religious belief in general?

If we assume that convicted criminals are largely not happy people and, conversely, nonbelievers are not happy, then we would expect a disproportionate number of atheists behind bars. Research doesn’t bear this out. Surveys indicate that atheists and agnostics collectively represent approximately 10 percent of the U.S. population.

If the prison population is reflective of the nation at large, nonbelievers should therefore constitute about 10 percent of the prison population, but this is far from the actual numbers.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, atheists and agnostics constitute less than 1 percent of those in prison. What the data does not show is how many of those imprisoned may have been nonbelievers when committing a crime and found God while in prison.

Perhaps what President Trump meant wasn’t simply that happiness is dependent upon a belief in God but rather that such a belief was necessary to be a good person.

One place to look for an answer to that assertion is in Nazi-occupied Europe. There were people since designated as Righteous Gentiles who at great risk to their own lives and with no expectation of reward rescued Jews. Eva Fogelman, of the Jewish Foundation for Christian Rescuers, examined the backgrounds of rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe to find the answer. She looked at nationality, social class, religion, political affiliation, and sex. None of these factors stood out as related to rescuers. Some were intensely religious, others were atheists, and others were nonpracticing Christians. Rescuers came from all classes and occupations—farmers, executives, doctors, blacksmiths, social workers, dressmakers, and janitors. Gender and politics weren’t factors either.

The extent of a person’s religiosity didn’t correlate with being a rescuer. Righteous Gentiles, as rescuers came to be known, ranged, for example, from the inhabitants of the mountain village of Le Chambon, in France, inspired by their common devotion to Christianity, to an atheist movie theater projectionist in the city of Lyon who took his cues from a commitment to the values of social justice.

The president’s comments about religion and the implicit criticism of atheists as being unhappy and immoral are common beliefs worldwide. But, as many studies have shown, such beliefs are an unfounded prejudice. If how we treat others is measured by the values of avoiding harm and fairness, then nonbelievers are as likely to be ethical as those who believe in a supernatural power (and the converse may also be true). This is the conclusion reached by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Haifa, who has studied religion from a historical and psychological perspective.

What is evident is that while religion may motivate some people to be good, not every good person is a believer. John Lovejoy Elliott, a 20th-century social reformer and Leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture, summed up this view when he said, “I’ve known good people who believe in God and good people who don’t, but I’ve never known good people who didn’t believe in people.”