31 August 2025

Madeleine Davies has drawn readers of the Church Times to a report by the ‘Institute for the impact of Faith in Life’. The report is entitled, ‘Faith and Happiness: How religious belief shapes Britain’s emotional well-being’. It was published in July.

Christians made up 48% of the sample – and 42% of them said that they attended church at least once a month. Muslims made up 5% of the sample – and 93% of them said that they attended mosque at least once a month.

The Muslim responses appeared to be stronger than their Christian counterparts. ‘Muslims consistently   reported the highest levels of life satisfaction, optimism about the future and confidence in handling life’s challenges.’ wrote Madeleine Davies.

For example, ‘Two thirds of Muslims said that they could handle whatever life brought, compared with 48% of Christians and 36% of those without faith.’ continued Davies. Apparently, the Report links these responses to theological ideas – divine testing, growth through hardship, the emotional regulation offered by prayer.

One Sunni Muslim woman said, ‘It’s all down to that core belief that whatever has happened, I’m being gifted with something far better … whatever I had wasn’t sufficient for the next phase of my life and the next part of my journey … And this makes me stronger.’

This resonates within Christianity too. We belong to something bigger than ourselves and we believe in a God who transcends all the uncertainty and unpredictability within the world. This gives us  faith that God’s plan will bring order out of chaos and this  aligns our fear  into a more hopeful context making us more resilient.