Perhaps [religion makes people happy] -- but certainly this is _not_ its universal effect. There are too many unhappy believers in the world - some of whom are _made_unhappy by their beliefs. (See for the classical expression of this William Cowper's "The Cast-Away.") Within the local support group for depressive/bipolar patients the overwhelming proportion are religious. Most of these are, however, only religious when religion is the topic. Of the others, some seem to be helped by their religion, but for quite a few religion only adds to their misery by posing intellectual/emotional contradictions that they cannot handle.
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I agree with this and your other counter-points.
My previous post was merely a go at restating Ravi's apparent position - which has more turns than an Alpine road - in crisper language.
.d.