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Comment by mensetmanusman | Hacker News Reader

It’s interesting, even if you don’t believe in a higher power, people that believe in God have far lower rates of depression and suicide, so if you try to optimize your life for happiness and mental robustness, it’s then logical to believe in a higher power.

This is an interesting manifestation of the incompleteness theorem. :)

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The happiest country in the world is Finland [1]. And two-thirds of them are atheists[2]. On the other hand, the most religious places in the world [3] are not on the happy list and most of them are desperately poor and miserable places.

[1] https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-... [2] https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/2... [3] https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/most-religious-countries...

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/finland-is...

“ In one comparison made by the World Health Organization, the per capita prevalence of unipolar depressive disorders is highest in the world in the United States. Among Western countries, Finland is number two.”

I don't consider basing my worldview on emotion-based fantasies mentally robust.

Is it possible that believing a lie increases ones chances of being happy & less depressed?

Sure, but that doesn't make it worthwhile.

Or maybe it's not a lie and believers are genuinely happier and less depressed.

Every religion states that the other religions are lies, which means that, at the very least, the majority of religious people believe a lie as a fundamental aspect of their worldview.

Thus, you apparently can be genuinely happier if your worldview is based on a lie.

Still not worth it.

> Every religion states that the other religions are lies, which means that, at the very least, the majority of religious people believe a lie as a fundamental aspect of their worldview.

I don't think I've ever heard of a religion that is so airtight that it blocked any ability to reason on how the others might not be a lie also.

And I don't think I've ever heard of an inclusive religion besides paganism & voodoo.

“ Every religion states that the other religions are lies “

Almost no religions state this, it might be an interesting thought experiment to steel-man your arguments :)

Yeah, that's why they are constantly trying to kill each other...

That's a false dilemma, you are corroborating the actions of extremists with the entire concept of religion. This sounds more like Hitchen's kind of an argument, which is fine for entertainment purposes but it is reductive and prevents us from having interesting philosophical discussions regarding God and religion.

Philosophy has no practical value, except for contrarians who don't want to admit being wrong.

History does though & the history of religion is that extremists who are religiously exclusive are much more likely to affect someone else's life due to their zealotry.

That why there are so many wars & crimes linked to religious exclusion.

“Philosophy has no practical value”

This is a philosophical statement.

Believers are also encouraged to go their local cult leader instead of seeking professional help, so they are not included in these statistics.

“ but that doesn't make it worthwhile “

From where cometh this objective truth? :)

There's nothing objective about "worth" & you obviously know that.

This subjective truth, however, comes from my value for integrity, which you apparently lack.

If you have no moral qualms about having a worldview based on lies, then more power to you.

Corelation does not imply causation. Maybe its that people who are prone to depression have some factors that make them less likely to believe in religion.

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