Researchers study mental health of believers, atheists

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This article was published 27/03/2021 (2026 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Studies have repeatedly found that religion is good for mental health; people who are religious or spiritual report being happier, less depressed and more satisfied with their lives.

Does that mean the opposite is true — that atheists are less happy and more depressed?

Finding answers to those questions was the aim of Godless in the Great White North: Assessing the Health of Canadian Atheists, a new study by David Speed, a professor of psychology at the University of New Brunswick.

Using information from the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey, Speed and co-researchers Caitlin Barry, also of UNB, and Ryan Cragun of the University of Tampa, compared the mental health of those who said they were highly religious and those who said they were atheists.

The results? While the data showed people who are actively involved in their places of worship reported better mental health outcomes, so did atheists.

“We know higher levels of religiosity equals good mental health, but that doesn’t mean lower levels of religiosity means poor mental health,” Speed said in an interview.

Why do religious people report better mental health outcomes? The answer, said Speed, is social support — people feel better if they are actively involved with others in a church, mosque, synagogue, temple, gurdwara or other place of worship.

Or as he put it, being religious itself is not the reason for better mental health, but it is indirectly responsible since it can “provide a warm and supportive social environment.”

People who are not religious can get the same benefit, he said, by regularly spending time with others — things like meeting regularly with friends, playing on a sports team, being part of book clubs or other activities.

“Atheists who had strong social networks had strong mental health outcomes,” he said.

At the same time Speed — who is not religious — recognizes that religion has some built-in advantages when it comes to providing social support such as an organized system of looking after its members.

This includes having pastoral staff whose job it is to look in on or connect with people on a regular basis, or designated volunteers who provide various kinds of interaction and care when people are sick or under stress.

Then there are the regular services, potlucks, home groups and other gatherings that ensure people have someplace to go to meet others and find the social support they need.

Of course, the quality of the social support provided by a religious community is key. If it is a bad or toxic environment — if there is conflict, disputes over theology and practice, oppressive leadership or if the group’s beliefs make some people feel unwelcome — it can be bad for mental health.

Speed’s study is one of a growing number that are starting to research the impact of declining religiosity in Canada and the U.S. This includes examining the rise of the nones — people who claim no affiliation with any religious group.

By going deeper into data, researchers like Speed are discovering the nones aren’t a homogenous group. Not everyone who claims to be one is an atheist, he said; many are still spiritual. These people have been dubbed “theistic nones,” people who still have a strong belief in God.

Interestingly, at least one study has found the level of certainty in beliefs — either for or against the existence of God — is a factor for predicting positive mental health outcomes.

According to Luke Galen, a professor of psychology at Grand Valley State University in Michigan who is doing research into this subject, both ardent believers and committed atheists report greater overall well-being than either believers or atheists who were unsure or confused about their belief in God.

For Galen, those getting the least benefit are those in the middle, people who “lack of coherence in their worldview.”

In other research, Galen found that atheists could get the same benefits as religious people by being active in humanist or atheist groups — something echoed by Joseph Baker, a sociologist of religion at East Tennessee State University.

In an interview with Religion News Service, he said while atheism can give people as strong a sense of identity as religion can for believers, and may help with their mental well-being, the challenge for them is “think consciously and seriously about where they will find community — and organize accordingly,” he said.

As for Speed, he hopes more research will be done about the question of religion, atheism and health.

“Atheists are not well studied,” he said. “But there is an explosion in this area with the growth of nones.”

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