Does religion make you happier?
NO SUCH THING
iHeartPodcasts and Kaleidoscope
4.6 • 609 Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, the boys grapple with the big questions: Is there a God? What happens after you die? Does bowling make you happier than Catholic Mass? We speak to a researcher who’s studied health outcomes of faith-based practices to find out if religious people are happier than others, and what it means for worldwide wellbeing when religiosity is on the decline overall.
Our guests this week are Dr. Harold G. Koenig, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University, and Rabbi Jason Klein of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Annie. I'm Annie. I'm Noah. This is Devin. |
| 0:15.3 | And you're listening to No Such Thing, the show where we settle our dumb arguments and yours by actually doing the research. |
| 0:21.2 | This week, do the boys need to find God? |
| 0:27.6 | There's no such thing. |
| 0:29.8 | No such thing. |
| 0:32.7 | No such thing. |
| 0:35.7 | No such thing. |
| 0:36.6 | No such thing. No such thing. Today's Such thing. |
| 0:37.5 | No. |
| 0:39.5 | Touch thank. |
| 0:44.8 | Today's episode was pitched by my wife, and it's about religion and happiness. |
| 0:49.2 | The question is, does being religious mean you're going to be happier? |
| 0:53.6 | Over the past few years, there's |
| 0:55.0 | been something of a resurgence in young people attending church, new data from the Barner group, |
| 1:00.2 | which is a Christian research organization, so maybe biased. It shows that Gen Z and |
| 1:06.8 | millennials are more frequently going to church outpacing older generations. |
| 1:11.5 | So this is out of people who are already churchgoers. |
| 1:14.3 | But in 2022, churchgoing zoomers and millennials went about one weekend per month. |
| 1:18.6 | Now that's up to just under two weekends per month. |
| 1:21.6 | So it's pretty big. |
| 1:22.7 | Obviously, COVID, whatever. |
| 1:23.8 | I'm sure there's other factors. |
... |
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