Well, not about Russia getting the World Cup in 2018, I’m not. Why does it feel like the Eurovision Song Contest voting – nothing to do with quality, but everything to do with ‘politics’?
Anyway, miserable though I might be about that (and amazed that the huge snowfall in Croydon has brought all life to a halt), I am intrigued by the Government’s decision to gauge the country’s ‘happiness’ with criteria other than economic or financial statistics. The excellent Office for National Statistics has launched a survey and anyone can contribute through this link: ‘measuring national well-being’.
What is weird about it is the total omission of the very element of human experience and motivation that actually shapes ‘happiness’ or how real people measure their own personal ‘well-being’: world view or faith commitment. This applies equally to people of religious commitment and atheists. My argument is not about privileged mention of religion for the sake of religion, but that the omission of any such category renders the survey a bit pointless.
Now, some readers are going to be fed up that I appear to want to drag religion into yet another sphere from which they would gladly evict it. But, this is not about religion per se – it is about the integrity or value of the survey and any conclusions that might be drawn from it.
The human sense of well-being (however you define such a thing) is shaped by all sorts of things: wealth, material comfort, education, family, relationships, environment, etc. But, the assumptions we make about why we are here, why we matter, what drives our ethics, how we see the future, how we face dying and death, etc. also matter greatly. Our world view powerfully shapes how we face the world, interpret our experiences and handle our joy and suffering.
To omit any reference to these is silly. I guess it is yet another example of the ignorant public assumption that ‘faith’, rather than being the shaper of our commitments, is (a) a mere optional add-on for loonies or feeble people who can’t cope with the ‘real’ world or (b) dangerous territory (on the grounds that ‘religion’ is a problem or a threat).
I am tempted to encourage people to respond to the survey accordingly. Again, not as a whingeing ‘we are being marginalised’ complaint, but as a ‘why are public authorities so ignorant of what religion (or atheism) actually is’ challenge.
December 2, 2010 at 5:08 pm
I was annoyed about Russia until I heard that Qatar have got the next one! That great oil (sorry, footballing) nation with stadiums regularly packed full of passionate fans…?! Russia and Qatar does sound like the new energy politics. Gutted. It’s not done my well-being any good, faith or no faith.
December 2, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Done the survey! The ‘other’ box is pretty good for outlining your objections on the exclusion of religious belief from the survey.
And to air some views. So, not all bad news.
December 2, 2010 at 6:04 pm
I’ve filled in the questionnaire and have suggested ‘Ability to explore worldviews/belief systems and express my personal beliefs’ as a category.
December 2, 2010 at 6:48 pm
Completed the consultation … don’t know if I’ve expressed things very well?
December 2, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Whilst I do not want us to talk up the “persecution” narrative, do we not need to ask how/ why religion has slipped off the public agenda?
Unless/ until we identify and address this, we will not see change.
I suspect whether we like it or not we shall find ourselves being drawn into the debate with a significant risk we shall sound as if we feel sorry for ourselves.
December 3, 2010 at 2:13 am
… Now, some readers are going to be fed up that I appear to want to drag religion into yet another sphere from which they would gladly evict it. …
Well, I don’t want to evict it, but is there any sphere at all you will not fill with football? :-p :-p
Apologies, just teasing about the soccer. To be more serious, you have a point; but I think it’s actually quite difficult to formulate a statistically meaningful and good question about the effects of faith, religion or atheism on happiness, for any poll of genuine psychological validity.
I suggest you would need to sneak the question up on people to get good results (a lot of psychology is like that; as soon as people know what you really want to know, they change their reactions). I can’t see how a government poll would really be implemented well enough to give you the study you would like, though I guess the Pew Research people in the USA have gotten pretty good at formulation of exactly that kind of question.
I do agree though the absence of any question about religion makes it rather odd, but I also happen to think that that poll is fatally flawed anyway; it announces its intentions way up front, and “primes” the questioned into skewed responses.
December 3, 2010 at 9:26 am
Completed the survey the other week when i first heard about it. Like other folk responding to your blog, I included a comment in the ‘Other’ box to ask the compilers to consider asking about spiritual aspects of life.
I also pointed them to the Kingdom of Bhutan’s website where they measure Gross National Happiness:-
http://www.grossnationalhappiness.com/
December 3, 2010 at 4:44 pm
At least it is easy to write on the things that matter on the form. I have just done so.
Given the amount of Government resources put into trying to get the right to pay for staging the world cup I am amazed that that didn’t appear on the survey as a topic.
I would have liked to have had it here but I am rather glad that we lost, it would have cost us millions and entailed us signing up to exempt all the FIFA delegates and staff from our national laws taxes and ethics. That would have made me seriously unhappy.
December 4, 2010 at 7:44 am
It is worth reflecting on the recent report “wholly living” commissioned by Cafod, Tearfund & Theos think tank, I believe. The report identified “helping others” as a key source of happiness – see http://bit.ly/9JDGiC
December 4, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Approaching both love and cooking with reckless abandon has made me happy at times – not sure my husband and children would agree with my tackling cooking in that way though!
Anne.
December 5, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Hi Nick – I led the All Age Toy Service this a.m. in our church – it made me very happy when people of every age generously came forward with wrapped gifts to be passed on through Social Services to children who may not otherwise receive a present at Christmas.
The worship was joyful but the talk about Jesus being the best present of all, was entertaining, without much content to it. How do talks at All Age Services move beyond the Key Stage 1 or 2 primary school level?
Anne.
December 6, 2010 at 11:07 am
Your title reminds me of the Rabbi Lionel Blue story of the elderly Rabbi on the plane who is feeling sorry for himself and begins irritating all the surrounding passengers by constantly intoning –
” Oh I am so unheppy , unheppy I am so unheppy..”
Eventually a kindly stewardess arrives, makes him a nice hot drink, tucks in the blanket sets up his music headset and disappears.
Moments later the passengers begin to hear a familiar voice
” Oh I am so heppy , heppy I am so heppy..”
Sorry for the culturally stereotypical spelling but the joke is better if you can hint at Lionel’s inimitable delivery.