Dr. David DeSteno

And so again, it's a synergistic effect to push us in that way.

Yeah.

I mean, so the data show that people who engage with religion report much less loneliness.

And it's probably both, right?

It is usually they're engaged in a religious community that causes deeper social bonds.

But I think you're right.

It does—believing you have a relationship with God—

allows you to feel like someone is always there.

And, you know, there, there's an important difference, right?

Being alone is not the same as being lonely, right?

You can be surrounded by a lot of people, but not feel a connection to them.

Um, with God, from what we can tell, there is this sense of having a relationship with someone who has your back, right?

A friend that in essence you can count on.

Um,

It's interesting, in a lot of evangelical traditions, there's a lot of emphasis placed on having conversations with God.

So I'm not sure how you were raised, but for me being Catholic, it was more like you would pray and you know God was there.

But in a lot of these evangelical traditions,

there are trainings that people go to to be able to listen for God.

And I'm not as familiar with the steps of those, but there really is this sense to kind of train yourself to be able to hear God or sense God by you.

And it's not for me to say whether this is true or not.