Viewpoint: Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

How American believers allowed themselves everyday joy

By David Van Biema Sunday, Jan. 09, 2005

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    The mainstream religious consensus, if less bold, makes a similar connection. Votes on gay marriage suggest that people do not favor someone else's happiness if it directly contradicts their idea of God's will. But, sums up Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of the forthcoming Modern Happiness, "the idea that God wants us to be happy is the dominant view. If you play by the rules, you will get stuff here and now."

    Even when Americans step outside their faith tradition, they prefer to be wooed in those terms. Dr. Howard Cutler, who in 1998 collaborated with the Dalai Lama on a Buddhist primer for non-Buddhists, suggested that it not open with the Buddha's first Noble Truth: that life is suffering. "I began with the more positive states and made my way to how we all want to be happy but have to deal with suffering," Cutler says. "It was very American." They titled it The Art of Happiness. It was a 97-week best seller.

    The trend will not easily reverse itself. However we redefine happiness, we will likely conclude that it is what God (or the universe or Gaia) wants for us. This is not a theologically airtight scheme. It might be upended, for example, by a vast cataclysm--large-scale terrorism or our own tsunami--that would shatter our collective sense of blessedness. But for now, it is who we are.

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