A recent study conducted in Germany found that people of the Islamic faith tend to experience a stronger sense of oneness, which refers to the belief that everything in the world is interconnected and interdependent, compared to people of other faiths.
Although the study aimed to explore the relationship between oneness and life satisfaction without specifically focusing on religions, the results indicated that Muslims scored higher in oneness beliefs compared to individuals of other faiths. The study also revealed a positive correlation between oneness beliefs and life satisfaction, even after controlling for religious beliefs.
The study involved two groups of participants. The first group consisted of 7,137 German individuals who completed a survey about their personal beliefs related to oneness, including empathy, social connectedness, and nature. The second group was much larger, with 67,562 people from various religious backgrounds and atheists living in Germany.
The findings showed that out of the total participants, Muslims had the highest average value of oneness beliefs. Additionally, the study discovered that women tended to believe in oneness more than men.
The researcher, Edinger-Schons, noted that individuals with higher oneness scores reported greater life satisfaction. She also found that higher life satisfaction is associated with additional benefits such as improved academic performance in younger individuals and better health in old age.
