Crunching the numbers, the researchers came up with a number of surprising findings, including that “those who were absolutely certain of God’s existence or nonexistence had largely similar levels of mental health.” Unwavering believers only came out ahead of committed atheists on one measure: they showed “higher levels of gratitude.”

For both believers and non-believers, the researchers found the effect of certainty on mental health was noticeable but small, accounting for perhaps one to two percent of the variance in mental health. This suggests that while belief may act as a “protective factor of an individual’s mental health,” its ability to serve in that capacity appears to be overrated.

What’s more, throwing up your hands and declaring the issue of God’s existence to be unanswerable also has its mental-health advantages: Self-declared agnostics “showed greater mental health values than participants who were only somewhat certain about God’s existence or non-existence.”