People with religious faith tend to be happier than those without?

Although I have deepest respect to Jonathan Haidt and his work, there is something that he claims I cannot quite figure out. How can something that brings guilt, terror, humiliation and fear of eternal punishment make someone feel happy? Not just happy, but happier then those without it? Haidt, being an atheist himself, doesn't explain the phenomenon, he just states this fact. The research he talks about in his book seems to be legitimate though
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/opinion/17kristof.html?em

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Permalink Reply by AnnaSero on February 2, 2010 at 1:30pm
Me 3. I remember I once wanted to believe in god, I was very young and it was a dark moment. Things got better on their own, sh** happens, but I never felt as weak as back then.
Permalink Reply by Edward Teach on February 10, 2010 at 10:01am
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality. – George Bernard Shaw
Permalink Reply by amer muhammad on February 10, 2010 at 10:55am
Cows and Bulls are also happier than us because they too don't have a thinking mind. All the Bullheads seem to enjoy more.

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