Several atheists and secular activists believe that church, faith, and prayer are unnecessary. However, data proves that people who engage, particularly in weekly church attendance, are happier and more fulfilled. Gallup Senior Scientist Frank Newport recently reported on statistics found by his polling firm that once again back the notion that attending religious services has a powerful impact on people’s life views.

Newport wrote, “The January Gallup data indicate that 92% of those who attend church services weekly are satisfied, compared with 82% of those who attend less than monthly. The difference is even more evident in terms of the percentage who report being very satisfied — 67% of those who attend weekly are very satisfied with their personal life, compared with 48% among those who are infrequent attenders.”

For those who think that money is the answer to happiness, the poll also found that weekly church service is a stronger indicator of happiness than higher income. Newport said, “Weekly religious service attendees are, in fact, more likely to say they are very satisfied compared to those who make $100,000 or more in annual household income.” According to Newport, these findings are just the beginning, as he says there’s a long line of studies that associate religiosity and wellbeing. Still, the general conclusion from the research indicates that the more religious people are, the less likely they are to be depressed and the more content they appear to be.

Newport also shared data from another series of in-depth reporting he and others at Gallup worked on, sharing some of his summary conclusion on the issue. The summary partially reads, “The very religious rate their lives more positively, are less likely to have ever been diagnosed with depression, and experience fewer daily negative emotions. The very religious also make much better health choices than do those who are not as or not at all religious.” Another Gallup poll found better mental health among churchgoers.

Last year, 44 percent of weekly churchgoers told Gallup they would describe their mental health and emotional wellbeing as excellent, compared to 46 percent who said the same in 2020 and 42 percent in 2019, holding a steady trend. Notably, this was the highest proportion for self-reported excellent mental health among gender, age, political-party identification, and annual household income groups.

Gallup reported that the wellbeing of most groups mirrored the national trend, with their mental health scores worsening last year and little to no improvement this year. Still, Democrats’ mental health rating has been steady at a low level since 2019 while frequent churchgoers have been steadily high. Many atheists think that church isn’t necessary and holds no merit over your health and wellbeing. However, research has shown that that isn’t the case.

People who have religion in their life tend to be happier than those who don’t because they feel a sense of relief knowing that God is looking out for them. Constantly worrying about fixing your problems can stress you over time. However, when you have God in your life, He steps in and takes care of all of your issues. Atheists might not think so, but if you allow God into your life, He can alleviate all your stress and make everything right.