From an ignorant outsider's view, the Catholic vision of the afterlife doesn't sound attractive at all. You have to spend a long time in Purgatory first, and then you won't be reunited with lost loves or lost pets. Protestants have a much more positive vision, and even atheists don't look forward to a long period of Purgatory. Life is punishment enough.
What about the pandemic as a possible reason for the brief bump in fear of death? How many respondents are saying I am not afraid of what happens to my soul after death and how many are responding that they are not afraid that they will die today? There was a significant spike in fear until the vaccines became widely available. The memento mori is common to the plague years?
I wish this question had distinguished "dying" from death. Dying can be very painful, and some people who do not fear death may fear the journey to get there.
As a 70 year-old Done, I would probably say "slightly". I'm old enough that any long-term decision I make includes an estimate of how long I am likely to live, and I've seen enough deaths to know that the process isn't always pleasant.
I'm entirely comfortable with the fact that the earth existed for billions of years before I was born and that it will continue without me (except as physical remains) for billions of years to come. I hope that humanity continues indefinitely, but I won't be around to find out.
If i were 20, I'd interpret the question as "how fearful of you are dying soon", and give a more fearful answer.
In this context, it'w worth noting that the only diffence between 65+ Protestants and 65+ Nones is a shift from "slightly afraid" to "not at all afraid"
Thanks for mentioning Religion for Realists. It looks interesting. I might check it out. My mental model for why Christian religion is powerful is that it is a tribal association of people with universalist and transcendental aspirations. Realism risks losing sight of the aspirational. Christian religion loses its power if we redirect the focus onto the tribal and lose our vision of the universal and transcendental.
A great story to debate in grad school. The data on education and miracles is a real myth-buster. I think you also had data showing that education is correlated with conservative politics. But graduate education confirmed my beliefs in God and miracles because I saw that many myths about disbelief were not based on data. I also studied Cognitive Therapy, which has been shown positive faith to correlates strongly with better health.
Do people see religious belief as insurance policy to get to heaven? I have long thought its odd that people think they can bribe God. The whole emphasis on the critical importance in faith/belief strikes me as odd. Why should God care if you believe in him or her or perhaps they? An insecure monarch or even a President wants people to fearfully believe in their omnipotence, but God is anything but insecure -- at least that js how I picture him in my inner eye. Do people think they can bribe their way into heaven through belief without any adjustment to their behavior? Do they think God cares more about belief then serving as God's steward in the world managing the world in a way God would want. But then I sometimes think that our notion of individuality is a false one. What if all of all life everywhere including God is a single networked entity that we are incapable of recognizing
I have written a substack on this for anyone that is interested.
From an ignorant outsider's view, the Catholic vision of the afterlife doesn't sound attractive at all. You have to spend a long time in Purgatory first, and then you won't be reunited with lost loves or lost pets. Protestants have a much more positive vision, and even atheists don't look forward to a long period of Purgatory. Life is punishment enough.
What about the pandemic as a possible reason for the brief bump in fear of death? How many respondents are saying I am not afraid of what happens to my soul after death and how many are responding that they are not afraid that they will die today? There was a significant spike in fear until the vaccines became widely available. The memento mori is common to the plague years?
Great opening Ryan. You’re very good at relating topics to the everyday.
I wish this question had distinguished "dying" from death. Dying can be very painful, and some people who do not fear death may fear the journey to get there.
As a 70 year-old Done, I would probably say "slightly". I'm old enough that any long-term decision I make includes an estimate of how long I am likely to live, and I've seen enough deaths to know that the process isn't always pleasant.
I'm entirely comfortable with the fact that the earth existed for billions of years before I was born and that it will continue without me (except as physical remains) for billions of years to come. I hope that humanity continues indefinitely, but I won't be around to find out.
If i were 20, I'd interpret the question as "how fearful of you are dying soon", and give a more fearful answer.
In this context, it'w worth noting that the only diffence between 65+ Protestants and 65+ Nones is a shift from "slightly afraid" to "not at all afraid"
I think an Evolutionary Psychologist might have some interesting things to say about fear of death going down over time.
Thanks for mentioning Religion for Realists. It looks interesting. I might check it out. My mental model for why Christian religion is powerful is that it is a tribal association of people with universalist and transcendental aspirations. Realism risks losing sight of the aspirational. Christian religion loses its power if we redirect the focus onto the tribal and lose our vision of the universal and transcendental.
A great story to debate in grad school. The data on education and miracles is a real myth-buster. I think you also had data showing that education is correlated with conservative politics. But graduate education confirmed my beliefs in God and miracles because I saw that many myths about disbelief were not based on data. I also studied Cognitive Therapy, which has been shown positive faith to correlates strongly with better health.
I think this is a tough question to get solid data on.
Personally, I 100% believe in the afterlife.
But I'm also totally scared to die!
Because I'm a pretty run of the mill frail human.
Do people see religious belief as insurance policy to get to heaven? I have long thought its odd that people think they can bribe God. The whole emphasis on the critical importance in faith/belief strikes me as odd. Why should God care if you believe in him or her or perhaps they? An insecure monarch or even a President wants people to fearfully believe in their omnipotence, but God is anything but insecure -- at least that js how I picture him in my inner eye. Do people think they can bribe their way into heaven through belief without any adjustment to their behavior? Do they think God cares more about belief then serving as God's steward in the world managing the world in a way God would want. But then I sometimes think that our notion of individuality is a false one. What if all of all life everywhere including God is a single networked entity that we are incapable of recognizing
I have written a substack on this for anyone that is interested.
https://davidgaynon.substack.com/p/a-hummingbirds-encompasses-convincing?r=sajh