To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

News Release : Aug 29, 2013  Staff – Science Daily

"Whether religious people experience more or less happiness is an important question in itself. But to truly understand how religion and happiness are related we must also understand why the two may be related." -Consensus of analysts

REPORTER'S NOTE: Scientists analyze the data, but can't figure out the real reason for Christians' happiness: Jesus! -Teresa Neumann, BCN.

A computer analysis of nearly 2 million text messages on the online social network Twitter found that Christians use more positive words, fewer negative words and engage in less analytical thinking than atheists. Christians also were more likely than atheists to tweet about their social relationships, researchers found.

The findings are reported in the journal Social Psychological & Personality Science.

"Whether religious people experience more or less happiness is an important question in itself," the authors of the new analysis wrote. "But to truly understand how religion and happiness are related we must also understand why the two may be related."

To identify Christian and atheist Twitter users, the researchers studied the tweets of more than 16,000 followers of a few prominent Christian and atheist personalities on Twitter.

They analyzed the tweets for their emotional content (the use of more positive or negative words), the frequency of words (such as "friend" and "brother") that are related to social processes, and the frequency of their use of words (such as "because" and "think") that are associated with an analytical thinking style.

Overall, tweets by Christians had more positive and less negative content than tweets by atheists, the researchers report. A less analytical thinking style among Christians and more frequent use of social words were correlated with the use of words indicating positive emotions, the researchers also said.

"If religious people are indeed happier than nonreligious people, differences in social support and thinking style may help to explain why," said University of Illinois graduate student Ryan Ritter, who conducted the research with U. of I. psychology professor Jesse Preston and graduate student Ivan Hernandez.

The findings are also in line with other studies linking greater levels of social connectedness to higher well-being, Ritter said.

"Religious communities are very social. Just being a member of a religious group connects people to others, and it may be this social connection that can make people happier," Preston said. "On the other hand, atheists had a more analytical thinking style in their tweets than Christians, which at extremes can make people less happy."

Previous research has found a positive association between religion and well-being among Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. But most such studies rely on individuals to report how satisfied they are with their lives or their experience of positive and negative emotions at a given time.

"What's great about Twitter is that people are reporting their experiences—good or bad—as they occur," Preston said. "As researchers, we do not need to ask them how they feel because they are already telling us."

Christians appear to be happier than atheists on Twitter, but the authors caution that the results are correlational and "this does not mean atheists are unhappy overall or doomed to be miserable," Preston said. "If religion improves happiness indirectly through other factors, those benefits could also be found outside religious groups."

To receive daily emails from Breaking Christian News to your inbox CLICK HERE

Courageous: Worship Leader Sean Feucht Prepares to Confront Anti-Israel Evil, Darkness, and Horror

'Australian Censorship Commissar' Orders X to Globally Remove Video of Islamic Terror Attack on Christian Bishop

New Emails Expose Biden's Connection to Whistleblower Who Got Trump Impeached

Tennessee Passes Bill Letting Teachers Carry Guns at Schools

Transgender Movement Is Losing Its Influence on Social Media to Shut Down Debate

Ohio Attorney General Breaks Down Leftist Legal 'Trick' to Block GOP Efforts to Protect Kids

Nearly 2,000 Minnesota Students, 15 Teachers Walk Out of LGBTQ 'Indoctrination' Lesson

Pro-Life Advocates to Hold Prayer and Worship Service at the United States Supreme Court on the Eve of 'Idaho v. United States' Abortion Case

'Just a Disaster': Biden's Title IX Rule Empowers LGBTQ Movement, Erases Women and Justice

WATCH: Brave School Girl Reveals in Graphic Detail How TRANS Student Savagely Assaulted Her Friend While Blasting Woke School Officials for Letting it Happen

United For Israel March Happening on the Columbia University Campus, April 25th

As Anti-Israel Activists Vandalize Texas Congressman's Office, He 'Stands With Israel'

Did Letitia James Accidentally Reveal the Real Reason for Her Trump Witch Hunt?

Unredacted Motion Reveals Collaboration between Biden White House and NARA to Concoct Classified Docs Case against Trump

Report: the WHO Makes Major Changes to the Pandemic Treaty, and They're Good Ones; But Will It Last?

Israelis Remember Hostages, Fallen Soldiers, Terror Victims as Passover Begins

She Survived a Death Camp. Facing Biden DOJ Charges, She Is Prepared to Die in Prison

Planned Parenthood Committed 392,712 Abortions, Received $699.3 Million in Taxpayer Funding in 2023

Student Loan Forgiveness: Morally Reprehensible and Legally Invalid

Columbia Classes Go Virtual Before Passover Amid Protests

Steve Shultz, Managing Editor
Founder and Owner

Aimee Herd, Editor