Religion and Death Anxiety

Abstract

The chapter reviews research findings on the degree to which religion faith, including religious beliefs, are associated with death anxiety (i.e., fear of death and the unknown after death). The research shows that Americans who practice their faith as an end in itself (internal religious motivation) have less fear of death than those who view religion as a means to achieve social goals (external religious motivation), and that the salutary association between internal religiosity and fear of death is mediated by the fact that individuals who have internalized their religious faith are more likely to believe in life-after-death. The findings of numerous, relatively small U.S. studies, which primarily surveyed Christians, indicate that belief in life-after-death tends to be negatively associated with death anxiety/fear of death. The results of four large-scale studies that specifically examined the positive and negative association of other religious beliefs with death anxiety also are described. However, research indicates that people have various fears about death, some of which are not affected by their belief in an afterlife and some of which seem to be affected more by other aspects of religious faith.