Are people better off with religion and spiritually?

Does Religion Actually Make People Better Off? The Data Is Uncomfortable Either Way

Most people who leave the LDS Church expect to feel free. Some do. But a pattern shows up often enough in post-Mormon communities to be worth examining honestly: the freedom is real, and so is the emptiness that sometimes follows. The question of whether people are better off with religion and spirituality is not a rhetorical one. It has measurable consequences for mental health, social connection, moral development, and life satisfaction.

The short answer is: it depends on the person, but more people benefit from structured faith than secular culture generally wants to admit.

Background: How This Question Entered the Mormon Conversation

John Dehlin of the Mormon Stories Podcast has spent nearly two decades interviewing people who have left, stayed, or struggled inside Latter-day Saint belief. His work sits at an unusual intersection: he is sympathetic to doubt but honest about what doubt can cost.

In one of his more candid reflections, Dehlin acknowledged something that many secular-leaning post-Mormons resist hearing. A significant number of people he has observed, those who exit organized religion without replacing it with something equally structured, end up struggling. Not all of them. But enough to take seriously.