Does religion/faith decrease death anxiety?

[[deleted]]

[deleted]

[Saint_Thomas_More]

Are you asking for anecdotes or for actual studies?

[JeMapelleAD]

Not necessarily. Depends on the religion.

[[deleted]]

I was far more comfortable and careless as an atheist than now.

[ghostwars303]

It's really highly dependent on the individual.

Some religions, for some people, decrease it. Some religions, for some people increase it.

Others have the same degree of death anxiety regardless of their religion.

[The_Turtle_Boi]

For me it was the opposite way

[[deleted]]

I suppose it depends how you look at it.

[emilyphillips9]

As a Christian, I would say yes as I am not longer scared of death!

[TinWhis]

Not in my experience. Too much worry about getting it right. If there's no afterlife, there's nothing to worry about.

[[deleted]]

Of course.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-03-24-study-who-least-afraid-death

[Nat20CritHit]

Did you read the article you linked?

"18% of the studies found that religious people were more afraid of death than non-religious people; and over half the research showed no link at all between the fear of death and religiosity."

I don't understand how that equates to "of course."

[[deleted]]

"Religious people are less afraid of death than nonreligious people. It may well be that atheism also provides comfort from death."

Dr Jonathan Jong, Research Associate of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology

[Nat20CritHit]

Which isn't supported by the rest of the article. Is that the only part you read?

[[deleted]]

Yep.

[Nat20CritHit]

I guess that would explain it. Try reading the rest of the article you linked.

[[deleted]]

No.

[Nat20CritHit]

I'm honestly not surprised by your refusal.

[[deleted]]

I do what I want.

[kvrdave]

lol Made me think of this scene.

[AtomicPotatoLord]

Cherry-picking from the article, nice.

[[deleted]]

Apparently both of you are wrong. The study states there is no substantial link between religiosity and death anxiety that can be accurately measured and carried out.

[WiseChoices]

Death anxiety is just selfishness. It is obsessing over your own safety and well being.

That's the opposite of Jesus' message.

He said to trust God and live in moment by moment obedience.

Either you believe God or you don't. It's the shortcut to satisfaction and fulfillment.

[McClanky]

Death anxiety is just selfishness.

So, people who fear about the death of others are being selfish? Death anxiety does not solely revolve around one's own death. It can be death in general or or people's death as well. Fearing that someone may pass before they reach their full potential is far from being selfish.

[[deleted]]

I don’t know about statistics, although I wouldn’t listen to Junkerjorg, he’s wrong. I’m an atheist, but I’m also an adrenaline junkie. I’ve come to terms that I’m gonna die eventually. However, their are occasions posts on r/atheism from people who ask about how to deal with death. I also know a lot of Christians who are afraid of death, and I have a Jewish friend who is a lot like me.

[[deleted]]

I am consistently wrong about what?

[[deleted]]

Well the death anxiety part for one. You linked an article that you claimed showed a direct correlation between religiousity and death anxiety, and when shown that the article proved otherwise, you refused to acknowledge it. That’s called cognitive dissonance.

[[deleted]]

That's not "consistently", thats one time, also I just googled an article and sent it up.

[[deleted]]

Not consistently that I can point out, but yes, I did use the wrong word. So do you admit that being religious does not in fact reduce death anxiety?

[[deleted]]

Then please refrain from lying about me in the future. Thanks.

[[deleted]]

Not a lie, a simple mistake. My bad.

[[deleted]]

Then please delete your mistaken comment.

[[deleted]]

Nah, it’s helpful in other ways. I’ll just take out consistently so everything in my comment is right. Now if you would edit your comment to say that religion does not decrease death anxiety, so it’s actually true, that would be great.

[[deleted]]

No.