J Sci Study Relig. 2013 Sep 01;52(3):638-646. doi: 10.1111/jssr.12046.

Do People Who Believe in God Report More Meaning in Their Lives? The Existential Effects of Belief.

Journal for the scientific study of religion

Stephen Cranney

PMID: 24729632 PMCID: PMC3979581 DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12046

Abstract

I conduct the first large-N study explicitly exploring the association between belief in God and sense of purpose in life. This relationship, while often discussed informally, has received little empirical attention. Here I use the General Social Survey to investigate how form of and confidence in belief in God is related to sense of purpose in life, as measured by a Likert item level of agreement with the statement "In my opinion, life does not serve any purpose." Using logistic regression analysis, I find that those who indicate that they are confident in God's existence report a higher sense of purpose compared to nonbelievers, believers in a higher power, and those who believe but occasionally doubt.

Keywords: God; meaning; sense of purpose

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Publication Types

• Journal Article

Grant support

• T32 HD007242/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States