Question
Are there any psychological benefits to religion or atheism, in terms of mental health and well-being?
Answer
As Lawrence Sinclair notes, research shows that religious people are happier. Many studies show this, so it is a very solid correlation.
Details of various studies of happiness and well-being reveal though, that it isn't religious belief per se that matters, but the fact that religious belief is often associated with strong community ties. Religion is a social thing for most people. It is an expression of a need to belong. The work of Jonathan Haidt on belonging and relationships as the source of happiness (every kind, from marriage to friendships to belonging to clubs) and well-being is the best known.
But you cannot conclude from this that atheism will make you unhappy or that religion will make you happy. You could be religious in a very private, solitary way (think Toby on The Office) and make yourself miserable, and you could be atheist in a very social, communitarian way, marrying another atheist, having lots of atheist friends who party all the time, belonging to atheist clubs, and so forth.
That said though, atheism is generally a carefully considered default-overriding intellectual stance while religion is usually a default-accepting stance that is often not questioned at all. People who are capable of adopting a non-default stance based on intellectual arguments tend to be naturally more introverted and solitary (after all, they are the sorts of people who forgo parties and weekend trips with friends to curl up with a Richard Dawkins book instead).
Because of this, you could say that unhappier people are more likely to turn to atheism because it is their very solitary nature that makes them seek pursuits like reading books that provoke the shift.
Some religious people find this idea that religion is anti-intellectual offensive and protest that they've spent years deeply studying their religious texts and philosophical commentaries, but statistically they are a minority, just like partying, super-extroverted atheists.
The same studies also show that religious people read less, are less educated, spell more poorly etc. The deep-thinking religious and the shallow-thinking atheist are the minority. The majority of the former spend perhaps 5 minutes at age 16 coming up with their philosophy "well, the Garden of Eden story can't be literally true, so from now on I am going to be spiritual instead of religious and still believe in some supreme universal force."
Details of various studies of happiness and well-being reveal though, that it isn't religious belief per se that matters, but the fact that religious belief is often associated with strong community ties. Religion is a social thing for most people. It is an expression of a need to belong. The work of Jonathan Haidt on belonging and relationships as the source of happiness (every kind, from marriage to friendships to belonging to clubs) and well-being is the best known.
But you cannot conclude from this that atheism will make you unhappy or that religion will make you happy. You could be religious in a very private, solitary way (think Toby on The Office) and make yourself miserable, and you could be atheist in a very social, communitarian way, marrying another atheist, having lots of atheist friends who party all the time, belonging to atheist clubs, and so forth.
That said though, atheism is generally a carefully considered default-overriding intellectual stance while religion is usually a default-accepting stance that is often not questioned at all. People who are capable of adopting a non-default stance based on intellectual arguments tend to be naturally more introverted and solitary (after all, they are the sorts of people who forgo parties and weekend trips with friends to curl up with a Richard Dawkins book instead).
Because of this, you could say that unhappier people are more likely to turn to atheism because it is their very solitary nature that makes them seek pursuits like reading books that provoke the shift.
Some religious people find this idea that religion is anti-intellectual offensive and protest that they've spent years deeply studying their religious texts and philosophical commentaries, but statistically they are a minority, just like partying, super-extroverted atheists.
The same studies also show that religious people read less, are less educated, spell more poorly etc. The deep-thinking religious and the shallow-thinking atheist are the minority. The majority of the former spend perhaps 5 minutes at age 16 coming up with their philosophy "well, the Garden of Eden story can't be literally true, so from now on I am going to be spiritual instead of religious and still believe in some supreme universal force."