RT Article
T1 Does Religious Belief Matter for Grief and Death Anxiety? Experimental Philosophy Meets Psychology of Religion
JF Journal for the scientific study of religion
VO 55
IS 3
SP 531
OP 539
A1 Feldman, David B.
A2 Fischer, Ian C.
A2 Gressis, Robert A.
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2016
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1570659133
AB It is commonly reasoned that religious belief moderates death anxiety and aids in coping with loss. However, a philosophical perspective known as meta-atheism includes the claim that avowed religious believers grieve deaths and experience death anxiety as intensely as avowed atheists. Thus, we report a study comparing religious believers and nonbelievers on measures of death anxiety and grief. We further investigated the relationships between certain religious beliefs (views of God, afterlife belief, religious orientation) and death anxiety, as well as both painful grief reactions and grief-related growth. We surveyed 101 participants across the United States, ranging in age (19 to 57), education, and ethnicity. Participants avowing some form of religious belief, in comparison to those not, did not demonstrate lower levels of death anxiety. They did, however, display higher levels of a certain type of death acceptance. Additionally, those professing belief reported less grief and greater growth in response to loss. Greater afterlife belief was not associated with less grief; however, it was associated with both greater grief-related growth and lower death anxiety.
K1 Bereavement
K1 Death Anxiety
K1 Grief
K1 Loss
K1 Religiosity
K1 Religious Belief
K1 Spirituality
DO 10.1111/jssr.12288