Are Atheists Happier?

Music written and generously provided by Paul Jernberg. Find out more about his work as a composer here: http://pauljernberg.com

Spanish translations by Vélez Translations, http://www.veleztranslations.com

Whenever I explain that my life has a lot more hope, meaning, and purpose than it did prior to my embracing Catholic Christianity, it’s often met with atheists in the comments who say things like, I’ve never been happier since I let go of all the guilt and shame imposed on me by religious indoctrination.

And while I’m sure each of us could dig up surveys and statistics about which group tends to be happier, I don’t personally think that happiness is something you can meaningfully quantify like ounces of mountain dew.
So, what if we grant that. What if we grant that in abandoning religiosity, some atheists have found an immediate satisfaction or pleasure or “happiness” as a consequence of that decision. Is there a way that Christians can logically interpret that?

I would say yes. Because Christians, as well as Muslims and other people of faith, are playing a long game.

One of the most important lessons that we learn as children is the story of the ant and the grasshopper. One of the ways that parable has come true in my life is from the experience of my own adolescence and transition into adulthood.

I knew plenty of kids who would ridicule and bully their hardworking peers and I was probably guilty of that too. I valued fitting in and being cool. I remember an experience of getting a grade back with high marks and immediately feeling a swell of pride, only to have it spoiled by another student who I admired for how cool he was making fun of me for being such a “try hard” and a “teachers’ pet”.

I happen to know that that person didn’t do much with the opportunities he had. He’s a single parent working a low paying middle class job somewhere and I’m not gloating about that because I shirked those opportunities as well. I wasted what I’ve come to discover is a fairly strong intellectual aptitude, but I never applied myself when I was school aged.

Instead, I spent my time seeking the immediate satisfaction of movies, skateboarding, and doing what I wanted to do. I skipped school and enjoyed myself as much as I could. And it was enjoyable. I had fun – much more fun than I would have had studying.

Atheists may attain an immediate satisfaction and enjoyment out of their retreat from the difficult life of virtue. And there’s no doubt, the Christian life is difficult. It’s not a life of comfort or ease. It’s one in which we are called to sacrifice, pick up our crosses, and suffer for the sake of he who suffered first.

It is our path to sanctification and holiness and we embrace this process with the hope that we will enjoy everlasting with God because of the ways that this work and mortification will have strengthened us and made us new.

So yes, there may be an immediate gratification to embracing atheism, but that doesn’t prove that it’s right. It could just be that immediate enjoyment you get out of avoiding your responsibilities. But eventually, that choice catches up. Like a person who takes out a loan to go on a fancy vacation. I bet the vacation will be grand, but the extra time they have to spend working to pay back the loan and the interest is not where they would like to be in the future.