The World's Happiest Countries

RJKarl said:

Norway from your wiki:

"In spite of the relatively low level of religious practice in Norwegian society, the local clergy often play important social roles outside of their spiritual and liturgical responsibilities. A survey conducted by Gallup International in 65 countries in 2005 found that Norway was the least religious among the Western countries surveyed, with only 36% of the population considering themselves religious, 9% considering themselves atheist and 46% considering themselves "neither religious nor atheist".[29]

Gallup says Norway is the least religious Western country.

That proves my point.

Just because there is a national religion doesn't mean people are religious.

http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2012/05/norway-shows-the-way-by-separating-church-and-state

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bobknightfan said:

I think there is a strong tie between politics & religion in this country....but I don't find much correlation at all between holding strong religious beliefs being Christian. If you polled all the people in this country who consider themselves to be Republicans, for example, you would get a large percentage who also claim to hold strong religious beliefs.....yet the policies that they support in the Republican Party aren't representative of Christianity at all.

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WFU03 said:

No, actually you said having little to no tie between politics and religion. A state run or affiliated church is exactly the opposite of that. Personal belief levels are low, but religion is most certainly related closely to politics here.

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RJKarl said:

There is the Church of England but if you ran on the basis of your religiousity you'd lose. There same is true in Norway.

Just because there is a titular state religion doesn't mean it impacts politics or getting elected.

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HoosierDeac said:

I think it's a cultural thing moreso than demographics (which is a touchy topic to say the least). I remember my first trip to Europe several years ago. I was touring Rome and took note of the fact that at 10:00 on Monday morning a number of storefronts/services (pharmacies and such) were still closed. The explanation I received was that Sunday evenings were reserved as family time with late dinners, drinking wine, strolling around etc. that the businesses just weren't quite open yet (not to mention the mid-day 'siestas' that you often see). As an American, where we are conditioned to have almost anything we want immediately and 24-7, this almost seemed unthinkable to me.
Another point is that many European companies are mandated to provided several weeks vacation to their employees, where in the US many companies provide a paltry 2 weeks (esp if you are just starting out with a company) which I find absurd in a civilized modern society.

I guess it's just a matter of priorities- US seems to be more focused on live to work, make money, buy material things, keep up with the Joneses, etc- all very illusory in one's pursuit of happiness.
Europe is more focused on work to live, relationships, experiences, time with family, living the good life- they seem to 'get it' better than we do in some aspects.

I would argue that yes, the social compact may be better exercised there- e.g. the social safety net allays most people concerns re survival; does it take a bit of an edge off "productivity" and "success"? Perhaps, but where has that left us in the US?

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bobknightfan said:

.....and sounds like a much better one to me. I can understand why the overall level of happiness is higher there. Too many people in this country spend too much time worrying about things that really aren't that important......and most of those things involve the need to accumulate more & more material wealth.

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