Word on Fire: What Makes Us Happy?

The annual United Nations World Happiness Report, which measures the happiness of different countries, is always dominated by Scandinavian nations. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Finland have always been in the top ten. But what’s striking is that these happiest countries are also those which rank among the least religious. On the flip side, most African countries, which tend to be the very religious, consistently land near the bottom of the U.N. Happiness Report. What does Bishop Barron make of this? How should we actually define happiness, and what have the great thinkers and saints throughout time said about finding happiness? That’s what we discuss in today’s episode. A listener asks how we reconcile all the violence/competition seen in nature with the Creator God of peace.