As for the rest of it, cultural homogeneity would seem to be a bigger factor than anything else. If the Scandinavian countries had anything close to the Muslim immigrant population that Britain and France do (and let's note that the immigrant populations of Britain and France are far below what they are in the US) that they would have as many social problems as Britain and France do. (In fact, European attitudes towards Middle Eastern and Indic immigrants in general make stereotypical southern redneck attitudes seem positively enlightened by comparison, so any study of their happiness had to be carefully tailored to produce the result the researchers were looking for.)

At least you think you would? So what if you didn't die? And you did find a never ending happiness because Christ wasn't always bringin ya down and telling you you're always wrong, and that you need to cleanse your sins for your mistakes, instead of thinking about them in a way to learn from your mistakes?

It's like if you see a kid seeing or watching something they shouldn't be watching for their age. If you just punish them, send them to their room crying, telling them they need to cleanse themselves and that they are sinful, they won't understand anything about what was wrong about seeing it in the first place. They will just be sad that they are now considered less of a human. If you just talk to them and ask questions to figure out why or how they were able to see it then you can explain to them WHY they shouldn't be seeing it in the first place, and they don't bear all this filth and guilt and disgust and uncomfortableness of their own being for just being curious.

I don't think its right that people live feeling like at the end of their life they will be judged by someone they've never physically met. I'm much more content dealing with what I would think of myself if I were to do something that would hurt or disturb someone's life in a bad way. And that judgment is consistently there in my own mind, and I don't have to rely on someone/ something else to do that for me. This is why people are happier in secular states. They have to deal with their sins right THEN, not at the end of their life.

Also – Don't you think atheists would value life more than someone who thinks that they will just have an eternal life of paradise AFTER they die? I cherish every second of every day, I cherish the words I type right now, because I am expressing myself. I just started reading “The Ancestor's Tale” by Dawkins himself, which is a very big book for me, but it made me want to see where Dawkins is right now. I wanted to know if it would be possible in my lifetime to meet the man, and if possible take a class under him or something and I stumbled onto this site. Of course, if I were religious, I would think that everything is planned out for me already. How boring. No, I can make my own choices, and nothing is laid out for me yet. I can change my life at any given moment.

This is an extremely touchy subject for me personally, as my mother's side, every one of them, is religious. My father's side, is all atheist. Me and my only sibling, my sister, were raised under no specific belief, and my mother decided NOT to indoctrinate us and let us literally choose if we wanted to be religious when we got into our teen years. How amazing. I love my parents for this. Letting me choose my own life, and not getting in the way of my own personal realizations. My mother's side is uptight, and I cannot voice my own opinions around them without creating a hostile feeling environment, which is not enjoyable to them. I love to debate, but it makes them feel insecure and act as if I am attacking them personally. And I'm not. I just really want to understand their point of view, but they would never let me. I don't even think that they know I am an atheist. This is how much of a lack of communication there is. My cousin, stationed in Hawaii, was not visited by his own grandparents when they happened to vacation there because he decided to become a Muslim in his years oversea. this is rejection of their own blood because of a different prophet. Sad. I would have LOVED to visit my cousin, I have not seen him in years since he enlisted. But I can't. Sad. My dad's side is very laid back. They mostly went to college or joined a union. No one on my mother's side has done either. Of course this is just my family, and by no means represents any other family with the same views in any way. I am just merely sharing my own personal experiences in being in the middle of both sides of my family, and being in the middle of this insane debate that will take many a lifetime for human beings to actually figure out for sure.

And to Paul Sand and webgrrl, this is true. I live in Alaska and it is much the same situation. Unless you keep your mind busy learning or with other activities, you can become depressed in the winter in a snap! We have those sunlight lamps here, too, but I don't think I've seen them in public places, only in homes. Along with the natives here being more susceptible to becoming alcoholics, you have a recipe for a lot of sad people, and depression. And this is all chemically, not because of beliefs or moral differences among people.

I would not want you to change your own beliefs. If you were to change beliefs, I would hope it would be because of yourself, your own learnings, and not because of anyone telling you what to do. The same as if you yourself chose to be a Christian.

What I do not agree on is the indoctrination of children into organized religion. I think children should be allowed to choose for themselves when they find the time is right to accept whatever god/gods and prophets to believe in, according to what kind of person they grew up as. For all I know, I may become a Buddist or a Janeist after a few years. I see myself as continually maturing, continually become ripe with knowledge and I accept any differences that I may find with what I believe in my life and combine all these experiences into my own personal knowledge. We will all have different histories when our final days come, why should any of them be even remotely the same? Okay I really have to stop, Thanks to anyone who reads this
Kristin

So, this is a puzzle. If you look within the United States, religion seems to make you a better person.

Do you have evidence for this? (And what do you mean by “better” exactly?)

A person of religion threatens me not at all as I'd love for them to be right on some level and I encourage my children to explore all sides of the issue and will even attend church with them. The person of relgion is generally deeply commited to having their children believe as they do and threatened by views like mine. My discomfort being around people of faiths is the need to walk on pins and needles not to offend them while I gladly share in grace or head bowing ect when they might request.

http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/sui…

Religious people who see increasing secularism as a sign of moral decay make some pretty offensive allegations against atheists.

In return, many atheists look down upon believers as ignorant rubes.

The most important thing to realize is that there is a “vast middle” in society, of believers and nonbelievers who have better things to do than try to tear each other down.

There is an inherent tension between the two worldviews, but coexistence is obviously possible. Unfortunately, high-profile conflicts will go on for some time because of the political implications.