Draft 1...A study of religious certainty and death anxiety

This topic submitted by Amelia Huerta & Martin Yip ( huertaai@muohio.edu,yipm@muohio.edu ) on 2/17/06. [ Human Nature Team: Amelia Huerta & Martin Yip-Section: Blaisdell/Feister]

Sorry about the formatting...it makes this hard to read.

Amelia Huerta
Martin Yip
Project Proposal
WCP 262
2.17.2006

Does Certainty in Life provide Comfort in Death?
A study of religious certainty and death anxiety

Death is inevitable and every person may have a unique perception and reaction toward it. Also, death anxiety is common across all cultures and different religions and groups approach the topic in different ways. Our study aims to find out the possible relationship between a person's certainty in their religious position (either Christian or atheist) and their intensity of fear of death. Our hypothesis is that people who are more certain of their religious position will be less likely to experience intense fear of death than those who are less certain of their position. We define certainty of religious positions in terms of the intensity of doubt in people's current religious/non-religious positions.
Our project ties in the human nature because religion and death are common among people in societies all over the world. Understanding how people deal with things such as death may reveal a lot about who we are and how we live. Through this study, we hope to gain knowledge of the approach humans take to dealing with issues of fear of death which will help us to understand what it means to be human. Death can be seen as threatening for many because of its uncertain nature. Religious beliefs might be uncomfortable to many because they cannot be proved, however, they can provide explanations of the unknown. Understanding the correlations between people's certainty in their religious positions and fear of death can give us a better understanding of how humans perceive and react to uncertainties.
Humans grapple with uncertainties every day. People deal with this by trying to gain knowledge and find truth in their lives in various ways. Science is a prime example of how humans try to explain things and rid their perception of the world of its uncertainties. Religion can also function to diminish uncertainty for some individuals. Biblical texts, for example, provide explanations for many of the unknowns in the world. But there are some things we can almost never be certain of. One such thing is what happens after we die; death will forever be a mystery. Understanding how people deal with the uncertainty of death may tell us a lot about how humans perceive uncertainties in general, and may help to explain why people are so concerned with finding explanations for the unknown.
This project is closely linked with issues addressed in WCP 261, What is Human Nature? Throughout the course of the semester we strive to investigate many different approaches to understanding human behavior. This study will focus on one type of human behavior. Thus, materials encountered throughout the semester may all be applicable to understanding the findings of this study. For example, we might think of religious affiliations in terms of homo-economicus as well as from an evolutionary psychological perspective. All of the readings for WCP 261 develop unique approaches to understanding human behavior. Thus, they can all be utilized to analyze the findings of our study.
The methodology of this study: The data gathered (see materials and methods below) will allow us to divide people into four categories. These categories include (a) the presence or lack of religious (Christian) faith and (b) the certainty or lack of certainty in their position. Thus, the four categories of people are as follows: (1) those who have religious faith and are certain of their position, (2) those who have religious faith and are uncertain of their position, (3) those who have no religious faith and are certain of their position, and (4) those who have no religious faith and are uncertain of their position. These categories can also be understood in terms of a continuum instead of four distinct groups. Using these categories, we will study intensity of fear of death in each of these four groups. We will attempt to find correlations between people's intensity of fear of death and their association with one of the four groups. Using this information, we will be able to analyze further to determine factors that influence both religious and non-religious people's fear of death and how that is related to their certainty of their religious position.
This study integrates and is dependent on many different disciplines. Psychology, sociology, anthropology, comparative religion, and philosophy all contribute. Fear of death and uncertainties of religious positions intercept the above disciplines. They can both be explored by psychology and comparative religion. Psychology explores scientific reasons why people fear and doubt, while comparative religion offers insights of different religious groups' perspectives on death, and explains what happen when people doubt. Philosophy deals with the rational argument with religions since the beginning of human history, and it often encourages the critical challenge of societal and religious beliefs. Critically challenging religious beliefs, instead of accepting what are told, can cause doubts for some. Furthermore, our project relates to sociology because it deals with how different groups of people react to uncertainties. Understanding the standpoint of anthropology is important since we are investigating issues in a particular culture and culture affects beliefs.
We are using an interdisciplinary approach in all stages of this project. Each of these disciplines has a different approach to understanding religion and how it affects people and even, in some disciplines, how people affect religion. Each of these disciplines also has a different approach to understanding fear of death and the way that this relates to human behavior and thoughts. Our understanding of religiosity, fear of death, and guilt are all informed by a careful integration of disciplines. We aim to gain a scientific understanding of religion. For example, neuroscience can explain why people have faith in terms of brain activity and its effect on thought processes. Also, a cultural understanding of religion should be gained. This can be seen through what appears to be an incredibly important role culture plays in defining, confining, and perpetuating religious beliefs. A social understanding of religion is also incorporated into our studies. This includes how individuals interact with each other in their environment to influence one another's religious beliefs. As we analyze the data we acquire from our study, we will integrate and synthesize all of these understandings of religious behavior to best explain our results.
Research Design: Our study will measure intensity of fear of death, presence or lack of religious faith, and certainty in the position of faith/lack of faith. These three factors will be analyzed in comparison to one another, including a three way analysis. We hope to find significant correlations between two of more of these factors. These correlations will allow us to understand more about the relationship between faith, death, and certainty. Measuring these factors will provide evidence that either supports or refutes our hypothesis that people who are more certain of their religious stance will be less likely to experience intense fear of death than those who are less certain of their position.
Materials and Methods: The data for this study will be collected in the form of surveys. The surveys will be given to 200 college students at Miami University, Ohio in various settings in order to achieve a random sampling of students. The surveys will include different scales for measuring fear of death, religiosity, and certainty in their current religious position. People with non-Christian affiliations will be excluded from the study in order to standardize the religious variable. In addition to this information, we will collect general information about the participants including sex, year in school, classes in different disciplines taken, major, age, and religious upbringing. Fear of death will be measured using Templer's ÔDeath Anxiety Scale' and/or the ÔCollet-Lester Fear of Death Scale' and/or another ÔDeath Questionnaire.' A religiosity scale will be used to measure religiosity among the participants. We will develop a scale to measure certainty of religious position. Also, open ended questions will be asked on the survey which will allow the participants to express their opinions about why they have or lack faith, and what they believe about an afterlife. This information will all be entered into a program for statistical analysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests will be performed on the data using a program called SPSS which is designed to perform statistical analyses. It will show us if there is any significant correlation between factors which we can draw our conclusions from.
Our research team will work together closely to make this project a worthwhile learning experience. We will meet at least two times per week and exchange ideas and findings via e-mail and telephone. We hold each other accountable for our contributions to the project throughout its duration. We understand that this project is a joint venture and will not be successful and meaningful without the commitment from both members of the research team.

Time Line: (There are topic headings for some of the weeks. This means that we will focus on understanding these disciplines/topics during that week. Also, there are articles and books listed in some of the weeks. This means that we intend to review these sources at this time.):
Week 1-5:
*Come up with hypothesis and do research
Week 6:
*Proposal
Week 7-8: Fear/ Fear of death in scientific discipline (psychology and neuroscience)
*Develop a certainty scale
*Create survey
Kraft, William A. (1987). Religious Orientation and Assertiveness: Relationship to Death Anxiety. Journal of Social Psychology, 127(1), 93.
Cohen, et. al. (2005). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, belief in the afterlife, death anxiety, and life satisfaction in young Catholics and Protestants. Journal of Research in Personality, 39(3), 307.
Spitzer, Tom. (2004). Fear of Death
Death anxiety in young adults as a function of religious orientation, guilt, and...
Authors: Swanson, Julie L. & Byrd, Kevin R.

Kraft, William A. (1987). Religious Orientation and Assertiveness: Relationship to Death Anxiety. Journal of Social Psychology, 127(1), 93.

Hoelter, Jon W. (1979). Religious Correlates of Fear of Death. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 18(4), 404.

Kahoe, Richard D. (1975). The Fear of Death and Religious Attitudes and Behavior. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14(4), 379.

Week 9: Fear/Fear of death in philosophy, sociology and anthropology and comparative religion
*Administer surveys
Rausch, P. (2001). UF Study: Religion Doesn't Directly Influence Sense Of Well-Being Or Fear Of Death In Seniors. University of Florida News. Retrieved February 16, 2006 from [http://news.ufl.edu/2001/11/20/religion/]
Nelson, L. D. (1980). Religiosity and Death anxiety: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis. Review of Religious Research, 21(2), 148.
Kearl, M. (2006). Sociology of Death and Dying. Retrieved February 16, 2006 from [http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/death.html]
Hoelter, Jon W. (1979). Religious Correlates of Fear of Death. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 18 (4), 404.
Nelson, L. D. (1980). RELIGIOSITY AND DEATH ANXIETY: A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS
Patrick, John W. (1979). Personal Faith and the Fear of Death Among Divergent Religious Populations. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 18(3), 298.

Week 10: Certainty in beliefs: Christian or non-religious in psychology and scientific
*Administer surveys
Markstrom, Carol A. (1999). Religious involvement and adolescent psychosocial development. Journal of Adolescence, 22(2), 205.
Markstrom-Adams, Carol. (1996). Identity formation and religious orientation among high school students from the United States and Canada. Journal of Adolescence, 19(3), 247.Kowalewski, Mark R. (1999). Amazing Conversions: Why Some Turn to Faith and Others Abandon Religion (Book). Review of Religious Research, 40(3), 279.
Hood Jr., Ralph Toward a Theory of Death Transcendence.

Week 11: Certainty in beliefs: Christian or non-religious in comparative religion
*Organize data
Week 12: Certainty in beliefs: Christian or non-religious in philosophy
*Analyze data
Week 13:
*Draw Conclusions
Week 14:
*Draft of final report
Week 15:
*Revise final report
Week 16:
*Final report with creative presentation complete
Our creative representation might be a video, painting, song or something else. Also, we think that everyone has a right to decide whether they want to be religious and we think that it is important to make this decision. Based on our findings, we may find that it is beneficial to be confident in your religious position. If we do find this to be true, our creative piece could be something that encourages people to make a decision about their religious positions, and also help them be firm and confident with their religious positions.
Annotated Bibliography:
Cohen, et. al. (2005). Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity, belief in the afterlife, death anxiety, and life satisfaction in young Catholics and Protestants. Journal of Research in Personality, 39(3), 307.
This study measured the extrinsic and intrinsic religiosity of Protestants and Catholics and the correlation with death anxiety, belief in afterlife, and life satisfaction. One point the study focused on was the way Allport and Ross' Intrinsic and Extrinsic religiosity scale differed in measuring the religiosity of Protestants and Catholics. It confirmed that the scale was more effective in measuring religiosity of Protestants. This information is important to know for our study because we will be considering information from individuals of differing branches of Christianity. It helps us to understand the differences between their belief systems. Also, they found that death anxiety was negatively correlated with life satisfaction. This information is applicable to our understanding of certainty of religious/non-religious beliefs.

Ewin, R.E. (2002). Reasons and the Fear of Death. New York: Rowman & Litterfield,.
The authors try to seek a philosophical understanding of what death is and why people fear death. There are some great insights including: He states that death is not a consequences of a train of reasoning, but that fear of death is prerational; it's something that we reason from.
He also mentioned the relationships between reason and emotion. This ties in to our project very well, since we are not only focusing on some dry philosophical arguments. He also stressed that why it is necessary for us to fear death. So this ties it to a philosophical understand and trying to rationalize why people fear death.

Harris, S. (2005). The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. New York: Norton.
This book criticizes faith, in hopes that it will end certain types of irrationality. Harris draws his insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism. The case the author brought forth against religion was bad for the individual, society and even the world. Religious beliefs require faith, but faith is irrational because it has a negative correlation with justification. As a result, religion causes people to leave irrational thinking. Harris then mentioned how religious beliefs endanger society the world by using the example of Islam. He condemned the deprived right of women, the educational systems of children, putting people to death because of blasphemy-an imagined crime to him. He further criticizes religion by stating that religion carries a vendetta across generations and fosters group labels on people rather than seeing them as individuals. He then warns that different religious beliefs can cause destruction to civilization if the relationship between the Islamic world and the West worsens. Finally, he suggests living a meaningful life without God and faith.
Our team decided to use this book because of its criticism of faith. The disciplines he draw insights from (philosophy and neuroscience) are very relevant to ours. We especially like his integration of philosophy and neuroscience in his arguments since most authors do not integrate those two disciplines when they discuss religiosity and faith. He also states that life is better without religion and faith, and this statement is relevant to our hypothesis since we want to find out the correlations between faith and the possible benefit it could provide people with in terms of dealing with uncertainties.

Hoelter, Jon W. (1979). Religious Correlates of Fear of Death. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 18 (4), 404.
This study was performed on undergraduate students which makes the data particularly relevant to our own research study. It investigated the association between religiosity and fear of death. It was based on both multidimensional and unidimensional measures of fear of death. The study only found significant correlations between the multidimensional subscales and no significant correlations between the unidimensional measures of fear of death. This study, although somewhat outdated, stresses an important and relevant point for our own study. It emphasizes the multidimensionality of fear of death. It is easy to consider death in terms of one simple scale of high fear to low fear. However, fear of the dying process, fear of premature death, fear for significant others, etc. are all different important dimensions of fear of death. This study distinguishes eight different correlates of fear of death. This helps us to inform and organize our thoughts and study in order to gain the most relevant data possible.

Ingram, B. J. (1986). Death Threat, Religiosity, and Fear of Death: A Personal Construct Perspective. Thesis: Miami Universtiy, Ohio.
This study is a masters thesis in the psychology department at Miami University. It studies how people face death from a personal construct perspective. She studied different groups of people, including people who have belief in afterlife, score high in scales of religiosity and how those people face death. We especially like this thesis because of its definitions of death, religiosity and the scales she used. She used various scales to validate her study and it can also provide different measurements of the intensity of fear of death and religiosity. Different death scales measure different important aspects of human nature: present self, ideal self, the person's death, anxiety and others. The scales she used include: Templer's Death Anxiety Scale, Religiosity Scale, Dimensions of Religious Ideology Scale and death Questionnaire. We will use some of these scales. Drawing examples of different death and religiosity scales also help us to create our own scales about certainty on religious positions. Fear and uncertainly are inescapable in human nature, and psychology offers a unique and scientific approach. She did not find a clear cut relationship between religion and death, but she found that people who believe in after life tended to score lower on the Threat Index. She examined the level of fear among people with different perceptions of death. Those people include: those who think that death is a transition, extremely religious people, ministers, people who have more meaningful construct systems, and people who think that death is meaningful. She also studied agnostics and Christians which applies to our study.
Kowalewski, Mark R. (1999). Amazing Conversions: Why Some Turn to Faith and Others Abandon Religion (Book). Review of Religious Research, 40(3), 279.
This book was written based on a study performed on college students in Canada. It focuses on individuals who lost their religious faith and those who gained religious faith who didn't have it growing up. It was found that students who lost their faith did so as a result of questioning over time. Family identity was typically linked with religious beliefs for these students. A phase of the transformation of identity that may separate them from their family/friends for these individuals was associated with loss of religious faith. On the other hand, students who gained religious faith usually did so as a result of dealing with death or serious illness of someone close to them. It seems as though fear is a vehicle to faith. This idea is extremely closely related to our study although it is not the focus of this book. The idea of fear as a vehicle to faith may help explain the correlations we seek to find between religiosity, certainty of religious position (i.e. level of doubt), and fear of death. The book explains how fear, which can include fear of death, may actually drive people to find faith.

Kraft, William A. (1987). Religious Orientation and Assertiveness: Relationship to Death Anxiety. Journal of Social Psychology, 127(1), 93.
This study examined the relationship between religiosity, assertiveness and death anxiety. Emphasis was placed on the correlation between assertiveness and death anxiety because at the time of the study, little attention had been directed toward the relationship between personality characteristics and death anxiety. It found a significant correlation between greater death anxiety and less assertive personalities. Also, there was a significant correlation between strong, integral religious beliefs and less death anxiety. Conversely, expedient religious beliefs were significantly correlated to greater death anxiety. This information will be important for drawing conclusions from the data we collect. The information on assertive personalities relates to our idea of certainty in religious/non-religious beliefs. Those who are certain of their position may be more assertive people. The reasons behind any correlations found in our study would, thus be illuminated by the findings of this study.

Lewis, C.S. (1955). Surprised By Joy: The Shape of My Early Life. New York: Harcourt
This book is about Lewis' personal spiritual journey of how he changed from Christian to atheist, and from eventually, from atheist back to Christian. It explores the issue of how he deals with doubts and faith in Christianity. This personal experience can help us to understand the feelings they experience when they doubt their religious positionÑboth from an atheistic and Christian perspective. Thus, this book provides insightful qualitative information about the emotions associated with doubting ones religious faith or lack of religious faith.

Malpas, J. & Solomon, R. (1998). Death and Philosophy. New York: Routledge.
The book consists of a collection of philosophical essays dealing with meaning of death, how death should be approached, how it should be presented, and how it is perceived in human beings. The writers include philosophers and non-philosophers. Some essays are concerned with Heidegger's notion of ÔBeing-unto-Death"; others are influenced by Asian philosophy, including Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan thought. Although we do not aim to include Eastern philosophy, understanding some of them enables us to find the uniqueness and assumptions of Western philosophy. By understanding how people in different cultures face death, we might by able to attain a universal attitude towards death. Some fascinating Eastern philosophies concerning death include: the Tibetan Book of the Dead and Daoist thoughts. Interestingly enough, near death experiences are also studied in some essays. The first articles noted a Ônear-death experience of a person who undergone philosophical training. It is interesting for our group to study the reaction of a rational person's response to uncertainties, and even irrationality. Other relevant essays study metaphysic and Ôauthenticity' of death.
Our group include insights from philosophy in our project because, "the connection between death and philosophy is a connection established through recognition of the philosophical project as fundamentally concerned with the nature and meaning of what it is to be human" (p.4)
Markstrom, Carol A. (1999). Religious involvement and adolescent psychosocial development. Journal of Adolescence, 22(2), 205.
This study examined the correlation between religious involvement and ego strengths, ideological and ethnic forms of identity, general self-esteem, and school self-esteem in adolescents. It found that various ego strengths were associated with various forms of religious involvement, mostly in European-Americans. For African-Americans, higher ethnic identity was found, especially for those who were religiously involved. In general, school self-esteem was higher for each form of religious involvement studied. The information from this study can inform our own research study by helping us to think about different possible benefits from religious involvement. Decrease in fear and anxiety about death may be a benefit that religious involvement provides. This study finds that various ego strengths were associated with various forms of religious involvement. Depending on the correlation we find in religious/nonreligious and certain/uncertain individuals, we may be able to link these ego strengths with a particular intensity of death anxiety.

Markstrom-Adams, Carol. (1996). Identity formation and religious orientation among high school students from the United States and Canada. Journal of Adolescence, 19(3), 247.
This study provides insight into ways of thinking about religiosity which involved combinations of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. Intrinsic religiosity is described as an internalized creed where an individual lives according to their principles. External religiosity is described as a self-serving motivation where an individual attempts to further their own selfish interests and ambitions. Using this technique for understanding religiosity, the study examined self identity of individuals of differing religious orientations, finding that the indiscriminate proreligious scored higher on identity achievement than extrinsic or nonreligious individuals. This idea of identity achievement can inform our study by explaining how religion influences other areas of our lives. It highlights possible benefits of achieving a certain type of religious orientation. One benefit of religion, although not addressed directly in the study, may include a decrease in fear of death. This is what we are studying. Based on ideas from this study, we see that individuals may engage in specific religious behaviors because it makes them feel a more developed sense of self identity. Knowing this may allow us to draw conclusions based on our findings about why and how religion and fear of death may be correlated.

Nelson, L. D. (1980). Religiosity and Death anxiety: A Multi-Dimensional Analysis. Review of Religious Research, 21(2), 148.
This Article develops a sociological perspective on death anxiety. In measuring religiosity, it distinguished between involvement with religious practices and religious belief. The effects of involvement with religious practice were found to be greater than the effect of religious belief on death anxiety. These findings are put into a social context by saying that perhaps social interaction and personal experience are more important to reducing frustration than religious orthodoxy. These sorts of socially oriented conclusions help us to see how our study can be put into a social perspective. Indeed, certainty of religious/ non-religious position may be related to the social experiences of an individual.

Shermer, M. (2000). How We Believe. New York: W. H. Freeman Company.
Shermer explores the issues of religiosity and fear of death through several engaging perspectives. Among the many areas of thought that he addresses, he offers an engaging discourse on the question "Is God Dead?" Here he brings in the famous Time magazine article of April 8, 1966 on that question published a century after Nietzsche's infamous remark. He suggests that this article and the whole God-is-dead premise is merely a fad, a by-product of its era, and that religion would live through it. He brings in statistics that support the negative response to the question by offering an overwhelming 96 percentage of believers over non-believers in the United States. He also explores several psychological views by arguing that human beings are pattern-seeking animals and the belief in God is necessary to satisfy our psychological needs. Shermer believes that God's existence is an insoluble question and presents evidence that belief in God and its expression through religion has all the earmarks of being a human creation and a social construction. In other words, he argues that humans made God and not vice-versa. We include this article because it deals with rationality and uncertainty. Through understanding how people rationally think about God, we hopefully can know more about human nature in general.

Website Selections:
Kearl, M. (2006). Sociology of Death and Dying. Retrieved February 16, 2006 from [http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/death.html]
This website puts a social rather than person perspective on death. It says that "death is becoming recognized as the central dynamism underlying the life, vitality, and structure of the social order." It says that we measure the adequacy of social life in terms of death. Also, it says that fear of death changes with society and contemporary fears involve dying within institutional settings. It also says that fear of death must be learned. This site offers a multitude of additional information on the sociology of death. These sociological ideas can be incorporated into our study by helping us to consider what social factors, including institutionalized religion, may develop death anxieties in different ways.

Rausch, P. (2001). UF Study: Religion Doesn't Directly Influence Sense Of Well-Being Or Fear Of Death In Seniors. University of Florida News. Retrieved February 16, 2006 from [http://news.ufl.edu/2001/11/20/religion/]
This website shows information about a study that was performed by University of Florida Institute on Aging researcher, Monika Ardelt. She studied religion, feelings of well-being, and fear of death in seniors. She found that mere religious affiliations or being involved in religious practices does not promote a sense of well-being. Instead, a sense of well being is associated with a feeling of purpose in life, not always promoted by religion. Feelings of well being are associated with a less intense fear of death. This means that religion is not always a factor in relieving fear of death. In fact, she found that simply having a religious affiliation was correlated with an increase in fear of death. The findings of this study can be applied to our own. However, we must remember that the conclusions from this study are about seniors who may be facing issues of death more imminently than college students. Once our data has been collected, we can compare it to this study in order to examine religiosity and fear of death over time.

http://www.samharris.org/
This is a website for Sam Harris, the author of The End of Faith. He has background for philosophy, Eastern and Western religion and neuroscience. His books are about the neural basis of belief, disbelief and uncertainty. We chose this website because of the rich information on the above issue. Also the heated questions in the reader forum would be a good understanding of how different people think about the related issue.

http://www.skeptic.com/
This is the website for the Skeptics society. A great understanding of what the skeptics' views are. It also has lectures, and suggested reading.

http://www.ccci.org/
This is the website for Campus Crusade For Christ, which is the biggest Christian Organization at Miami University. Understanding the faith statement, information about campus ministry and other spiritual resources will be a good way to understand how Campus Crusade for Christ tries to influence college students.

Next Article
Previous Article
Return to the Topic Menu