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Friday April 4, 2008
Spirituality and happiness: are they connected?
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have made a discovery that they found most startling. Mark Holder, professor of psychology at UBC, and his graduate assistant, Judi Wallace, confessed that they were quite surprised when their research revealed that “spirituality” accounted for 6.5 – 16.5 percent of children’s “happiness.”
While numerous studies have shown the positive impact of spirituality on adults’ mental and physical well-being, the Canadian researchers expected less impact on children. Dr. Holder said that they found that “it’s a whopping big effect. . . I thought their spirituality would be too immature to account for their well-being.”
As part of the research, children 9 to 12 were asked to respond to statements such as, “I feel a higher power’s presence” and were asked such questions as “how often do you pray or meditate privately outside of church or other places of worship?”
The Canadian study found that “spirituality” trumped by a significant measure all other factors such as gender, financial status, or the type of school (public or private, co-ed or single sex, boarding or day) a child attended in generating happiness and contentment in the children studied.
These results reinforce the findings of the exhaustively documented Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities (2003) which found among other things that “religiosity and spirituality significantly influence well-being” and “the human brain appears to be organized to ask ultimate questions and seek ultimate answers.” In other words, it seems human beings are “hardwired” to seek ultimate answers in a power greater than themselves.
Could it be that both of these studies are scientific commentaries on Blaise Pascal’s (1623-1662) philosophical insight nearly four centuries ago, that “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator . . . ?”
I think so.
Filed Under: casting stones, Richard Land
posted by Dr. Richard Land @ 4:45pm Permalink 
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About Casting Stones
Diana Butler Bass is a religion scholar and author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. She blogs at God’s Politics.
Tony Campolo is Professor Emeritus at Eastern University and author of The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice, with Mary Darling. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Rod Dreher is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News and author of Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots. He blogs at Crunchy Con.
Bruce Feiler is the author of seven books, including Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses. He blogs at Feiler Faster.
Dan Gilgoff is Politics Editor at Beliefnet and author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War. He blogs at God-o-Meter.
David Kuo served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and is the author of Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. He blogs at J-Walking.
Dr. Richard Land is president of The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and author of The Divided States of America? What Liberals AND Conservatives are missing in the God-and-country shouting match!
Michele McGinty is a mom and a student at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She blogs at Reformed Chicks Blabbing.
Brian McLaren is a pastor, musician, and author of Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Steven Waldman is co-founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of Beliefnet. His book Founding Faith will be published in March, and he can be reached through the Beliefnet community.
Jim Wallis is executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. He blogs at God’s Politics.
Comments
I appreciate your comments concerning the children. It seems that Christ recognized a spiritual connection to children in His own ministry. When children are deprived of stimulation to experience God at an early age, they tend to begin to fill that 'void' with other things. This phenom is exacerbated as adults.
Conversly, it is beautiful to witness the tender plant, turned to its creator in the days of his youth finding fulfillment and purpose.
Be blessed,
TE
Posted by: Tim Estes | April 8, 2008 6:33 PM
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