All things equal, are the non-religious actually happier then the religious?

So, I'll admit, the evidence strongly points to Christians being happier then Atheists in America. Which would suggest that Christians have "the joy of the Lord", and the virtue of contentedness. . . BUT, studies now show that while religious people (at least in the United States and other religious countries) are statistically happier on average than non-religious people, the key variable does not appear to be religion itself. Instead, it is the social connections that religious life facilitates that make people happy.
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Some could say that the Atheists and Agnostics who go to a social "church" or club-like groups should then be on par with the religious church goers.  I would disagree though. . . until the non-religious can be accepted in a dominantly religious society, they cannot be truly on par socially. Ideally though, if they could be accepted, instead of the most distrusted group in the country, (based on ignorance and presumption alone) I propose that they would be even happier then the religious!
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Across the world, The Freethought Report 2013 unfortunately shows not only distrust though, but extreme prejudice and persecution. (Which is difficult to be happy while in.) One of the people doing the study said, "there are laws that deny atheists' right to exist (13 countries have a death penalty for being an Atheist), revoke their citizenship, restrict their right to marry, obstruct their access to public education, prevent them working for the state...." And even if not "on the books", in America it was polled that 55% of people would not vote for a well qualified person for president just because he was an Atheist.

Even criticism of religion or even academic study of the origins of religion is frequently treated as a crime, not just in Muslim countries, but across most of Africa (the most highly Christian places in the world) atheists face severe or systemic violations of their rights to freedom of conscience.

 While the US is not a great place to be an Atheist by any means, the country has thankfully had some recent improvements, despite the continued dangers presented by the religious right. Even earning an "honorable mention" in a study of the top 8 countries to live in as an Atheist! This may be partially due to the fact that the number of self-identified "religious" Americans has dropped from 73% in 2005 to 60%, according to a recent poll! Americans also may tell pollsters that they are religious, but apparently either they have a very loose definition of "religious", or are a closet Agnostic, based on their actual church attendance.

 So, how can an Atheist, amid all their prejudice and persecution, be happier then if they believed the dominating and socially accepted belief of being a Christian, in this Christian country of America? Well, they can't easily be yet, but all things being equal, we could theoretically compare the community and acceptance that Atheists do have in say, the most Atheistic country of the world (Norway), with what they could have here in the States. To be fair. . .

So, Norway scores the highest in the Legatum Prosperity Index, which is based on a study of 142 countries comprising 96% of global population. Nations are analyzed and ranked on 89 indicators in 8 categories. Though money alone doesn't bring happiness, all of this is a pretty good indication of contentedness.

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"There’s a strong correlation between the happiest countries in the world and the least religious countries in the world, and along with Sweden and Denmark, Norway rates at the top of both lists." 

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In many Scandinavian countries, including Norway and Sweden, the number of people who report believing in God has reached an all-time low. This may have something to do with the way these countries have established governments that guarantee a high level of social security for all of their citizens. Aaron Kay and his colleagues ran a study in Canada which found that political insecurity may push us towards believing in God.

 As a further note of interest, Norway has the lowest rate of antidepressant use in the industrialized world from all the stats I read, 57 people out of 1,000 use antidepressants. They also have a much lower obesity rate then us. . .which we lead the world in!

No doubt the increased health also correlates with the low crime rate and overall safe feelings of it's citizens. . .or maybe it's the fact that guns are used in most households! The nation of about 4.9 million residents reports one of the lowest per-capita homicide rates in Europe.

"A mountain of evidence demonstrates that stable, egalitarian economies correlate strongly with higher rates of atheism."

Atheism flourishes in nations where people demonstrate high levels of commitment towards a socially just government and shared economic benefits. If you have faith in your nation, your gun and/or your fellow citizens, putting faith in your invisible friend or religion as well, might seem rather pointless. 

So, correlation or causation aside, it seems obvious that the more well educated, wealthy, crime free and stable the country is, the more happy they are. . . and the more likely they are atheistic. While the more religious the countries, the more the opposite is true. So can we say it is the Atheists that are happiest, or just a fluke, evidenced in many different countries of the world? I personally see no cause to doubt that Atheists are far more happy and content, as they aren't full of superstition and fear.

 I personally feel happier with my life in general and my marriage too since becoming an Atheist. . .that said, if I were not married to a (now) Atheist, and generally presumed to be a Christian by strangers, as well as have few judgmental Christian friends left on Facebook (this has been a process) and go to a mostly Atheistic church, I would feel much less happy. Community is everything with how happy you are people, so. . .have you hugged your friendly neighborhood Atheist today?