Thanatophobia and Christian Faith
Transcript of Thanatophobia and Christian Faith
FEAR OF DEATH page 1
Course Project Part 6: Final Product
Thanatophobia and Christian Faith
Ernie Ladd
Walden University
Dr. Eric Vogt
EDUC 6173 Building Research Competencies in Adult Education
February 20th, 2014
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Introduction
Research, especially over the past forty years, is replete with studies on death and dying –
approaching and applying it in numerous scenarios, including religious, and drawing an abundance
of differing conclusions in those studies. “Hundreds of published academic papers have shown
that worrying about death affects everything from our prejudices and voting patterns to how
likely we are to exercise or use sunscreen. People deal with death by upholding worldviews that
are larger and longer lasting than themselves, and opposing anyone or anything that violates
these "cultural anxiety-buffers" (Villarica 2012). Death knows no cultural or language barriers;
it is colorblind, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or any other factor that is
commonly found today. Death never takes a holiday nor does it show favoritism to the wealthy
or privileged. Its stakeholders are everyone no matter their latitude nor longitude.
“Previous research has disclosed different meanings of death, varieties of death anxiety,
and hundreds of factors extracted from the uni- and multi-dimensional death anxiety scales.
However, there have been no empirical studies to elucidate the reasons for death fear” (Abdel-
Khalek 2002 p.2). One common thread in research on death anxiety and faith is a failure to
define terms. For example, what is religion? What does it mean to be “religious”? What is a
true Christian? What is required to make it to heaven? Is everyone who claims to be a Christian
really a true Christian? What comes after death - reincarnation, resurrection, or the end of life?
The Research Problem and Points to Ponder
“Despite the secularization of American society throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries,
Americans {ironically} themselves seem to be increasingly spiritual. While belief in God has
always remained high, contemplation and exploration of some other aspects of spirituality seem
to be on an upward trend. The increasing number of individuals who believe in heaven, hell, the
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devil, and angels is evidence of this. As science, technology, and rational explanations uncover
and explain more and more about the known world, Americans are likely becoming more
intrigued by the unknown” (Winseman 2004). This data is most surprising since Western
Civilization is in the era of post-modernism, where there are supposedly no moral or spiritual
absolutes.
*Results are based on telephone interviews with 519 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 2-4, 2004. For
results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is
±5 percentage points (Gallup Poll, 2004).
But the biblically based Christian faith is unique from all the other religions of the world
in that it claims to provide concrete answers to all of these questions and more. “The subject of
life after death by its very nature is a mystery incapable of solution apart from the revelation that
has been given {by God} in Scripture” (George 1984, pg.3). But most research studies do spell
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out one common thread in their research – the need for further more detailed research to deal
with this complex issue (Beshai 2007, Fletcher 2010, Dolnick, 2007, Riley & Green 2011).
Comprehensive Synthesis of Literature Review
The literature review was quite extensive, but provided mixed results. Templer’s 1971
study showed a low level of connection between religious commitment and death anxiety. But
Templer was quick to point out that all subjects were students age 18-22 and probably had little
interest or concern regarding death. A later study performed by Templer (1987) showed
variables of death anxiety significant at <p=.01> for all age groups.
“The existential problem of individual death and the anxieties roused by the threat of
corporal nonexistence are intimately involved with ultimate religious concerns, particularly those
of the Christian faith” (Kahoe & Dunn 1975). On the one hand, fear of death may motivate
one’s basic religious commitment, and, on the other, Christianity often promises an assurance
such that the believer need no longer fear death. Whether religious faith does indeed reduce fear
of death has been equivocal. “Fiefel (1959) found that those with religious beliefs had more fear
of death than the nonreligious, but Christ (1961) found no relationship between religiously and
fear of death. Swenson (1961), however, found those with greater religious activity and more
fundamental religious beliefs had less fear of death and looked forward to death more than those
with little religious activity” (Kahoe & Dunn 1975).
In a different study, parishioners (n=130) of an Episcopal church in New York City
participated in a survey to explore the relationship between the religiosity, death acceptance, and
death anxiety. Among the four different types of religiosity measured by the Rohrbaugh and
Jessor scale, theological religiosity was the only one to have a significant effect on death accep-
tance and death anxiety. Belief in God’s existence (r= 0.27), and belief in the afterlife (r= 0.25)
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were both negatively correlated with death anxiety (p <0.01), and positively correlated with
death acceptance (respectively, r=0.21 and r=0.22, p< 0.05). The effects remained significant
even after controlling for a number of demographic variables using multiple regression pro-
cedures (Harding, Flannelly, Weaver, & Costa 2005). Templer (1987) and (Harding, et al 2005)
call for further research with more specific data samples, which is what this study plans to do.
Conclusions from Synthesis of Literature Review
As mentioned, there were studies that correlated positively and negatively the parameters
of death anxiety and Christian commitment. Once again, it is the proposed solution in this study
that more detailed research be done by narrowing the parameters through utilizing concise
definitions of “Christian“ terms such as “Evangelical”, “assurance of salvation” and inerrancy”,
etc. Hopefully, in so doing, the critical factors that contribute to salient death anxiety may be
identified providing concrete answers to this universal problem experienced by all from
antiquity.
Our research problem of thanatophobia is an inescapable part of the human experience
that is faced by all mankind - the fear of death and dying. The problem is how do we deal with
death? Is it the end of life or the beginning of another journey? How can we know what to
expect so that we do not have to fear the unknown and unexpected or at least have that phobia
mitigated? To many, the strategy is to simply move on and not think about it or to rationalize
or marginalize the problem by telling oneself, “I am still young, and do not have to worry about
death right now”. “I’ll wait until the time comes” (Fletcher 2010). Then there is a fatal car crash.
To others, it is to deny the problem even exists - such as the so-called atheist who
proclaims confidently that when we die we cease to exist. But even this religious belief fails to
eliminate the fear of pain and suffering that might accompany dying, and this position also
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provides no evidence to support such a sweeping affirmation. Indeed it is untenable to prove a
negative.
All of these questions have been debated from antiquity. But the biblically based
Christian faith is unique from all the other religions of the world in that it claims to provide
concrete answers to all of these questions and more. ‘The subject of life after death by its very
nature is a mystery incapable of solution apart from the revelation that has been given {by God}
in Scripture” (George 1984, pg.3).
Research Problem to Hypothesis and Research Questions
After a rather thorough search, this researcher came up with more than 30 scholarly
research reports, academic articles, and books that are relatively “on-point” (Patton 2011) to
death and dying, and religious faith. To carry out this research, a diverse sample of 300 to 400
adult ed students would serve as participants using three surveys: the Colette-Lester Death
Anxiety Scale and the Boyer and Templer Death Anxiety Scales, along with a detailed
questionnaire that this researcher would design to determine the subjects’ understanding of
where they fit on different “branches of the Christian tree” as well as their own level of faith and
commitment. It would also, as previously mentioned, define terms spelled out in the research
questions.
Because of the abundance of previously published sources testing the effect religious
faith has on fear of death, and the use of the Bible and other works pertaining to death and dying,
it appears with a degree of certainty that one can postulate an hypothesis pertaining to the
relationship between Thanatophobia and Christian faith. At this point, the hypothesis for this
quantitative research project will be: Committed Evangelical Christians who hold that the Bible
is the inerrant Word of God and have assurance of their salvation will have a significantly lower
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level of death anxiety than all other groups. This rather specific hypothesis begs the following
six research questions that will be defined from the Bible, a few of the articles, journals, and
books, and finally in the research questionnaire:
• What Does Evangelical Christianity mean?
• What does inerrancy mean?
• What does it mean to have assurance of salvation?
• Is the Evangelical Christian faith a religion or a relationship or both?
• Is there different fear of death levels in various denominations of Christianity?
• Will these factors produce a lower fear of death for Evangelical Christians?
Literature Review
An extensive quantitative study done in 2005 not only found that religious beliefs and
practices are significant in affecting levels of death anxiety, it revealed that those beliefs were the
most significant factor of any aspect that was measured, including age, health, status and family
ties (Harding, Flannelly, Weaver, & Costa, 2005). The fact that females had a measurably higher
fear of death level seems interesting to this researcher and is fodder for further analysis in the
area of gender. The article was chosen because it directly relates to the research problem,
namely that faith affects death anxiety which in turn plays a major factor in how people live their
lives and sometimes how they die.
In describing another study, Hoelter & Epley (1979) state that, “Relating the threat of
personal death to religion has perplexed both philosophers and theologians. Some view this
relationship as teleological, asserting that religiosity arose from the hope for continued existence.
Within the social sciences, however, examination of such a paradigm is premature, since
empirical research has not shown a relationship between these constructs” (p.405). One reason
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this article was selected is because it debunks that teleological fallacy, which is important in
relationship to this study’s research hypothesis.
Patrick’s (1979) study is similar to Hoelter & Epley’s (1979) and is even found in the
same edition of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Patrick (1979) focuses on a
comparative study of fear of death between both Christianity and Buddhism. Christians from
two different protestant denominations, Congregationalists and Southern Baptists exhibited a
significantly lower fear of death than did the Buddhists < p=.02 > (Patrick 1979).
Another research article called “Taking the Sting Out of Death: A Christian Educational
Perspective” argues from an Evangelical Christian point of view attempting to explain death and
the hereafter from a Biblical perspective (Riley, & Green, 2012). One weakness of this article is
that it only has five resources in its reference list. Due to the specificity of the hypothesis, there
will be a need to use sources from Evangelical Christians, which might be considered biased. But
this does not necessarily affect the objectivity of this researcher who plans to go to great lengths
to avoid bias.
Bartalos and Ellens (2009) contend that, “Since 9/11, America has developed a new mortal-
ity awareness. Death, and our understanding that it can be sudden and is certainly inevitable, is
being talked about more than ever before. 9/11 has changed the way we think and act not only in
relation to ourselves and loved ones, but in relation to society overall” (pg.1) Death has certainly
been brought to the forefront of the lives of countless Americans brought on by that tragic day.
But is this increase in fear of death a healthy phenomenon or the sign of a troubled society that
needs to turn back to its roots of Judeo-Christian faith and values that made this country great?
As far as sources with data, an excellent interview with Dr. Donald Templer (2007), long
recognized as an expert on thanatophobia and religion was located. Below is a table highlighting
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the data from Templer’s study from the 1980’s on “Correlates of Religious Commitment and
Death Anxiety” (Beshai 2007, p.3). The table shows that the stronger the subject’s commitment
to faith, the lower the level of fear of death < p =.01 >.
This final data resource selected for the literature review is two tables that compare the
same data among two different Sunday School classes within the same Presbyterian Church (USA)
(Silton, Flannelly, Ellison, Galek, Jacobs, Marcum, & Silton 2011). It is very significant that the
results are remarkably similar with extremely low p values of < p =.001 > for those who practice
private devotions and believe in life-after-death, which are hallmark characteristics of
Evangelical Christians. This study was peer reviewed and published quite recently by the
Religious Research Association, a non-denominational non-profit research company.
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Research Questions: Defining Terms
What Does Evangelical Christian Mean?
“In Western culture today, there are many ‘caricatures’ of Evangelical Christians, {many
of which are negative} (Houdman 2013). For some, the term Evangelical Christian (EC) is equiv-
alent to ‘right-wing, fundamentalist Republican.’ For others, "EC" is a title used to differentiate
an individual from a nominal Christian, a Catholic Christian, {a liberal Christian}, or an Eastern
Orthodox Christian. Others more correctly use the term to indicate adherence to the basic, non-
negotiable doctrines of Christianity that pertain to salvation. In this sense, an Evangelical
Christian is a believer in Jesus who holds to the inspiration, inerrancy, and sole authority of
Scripture, the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith alone, which is a free
gift of God” and the assurance of salvation that comes from Christ’s sacrificial death on the
cross to pay the penalty of sin, which is spiritual separation from God. (Houdman 2013, pg.1).
What Is Inerrancy?
Inerrancy simply means “without error in the original manuscripts or writings”.
Evangelicals believe that the 66 books of the Old and New Testament, although written by men,
were written by plenary, verbal inspiration by the Holy Spirit and are without any mistakes in the
original copies.
What is Assurance of Salvation?
“And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write
these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you
have eternal life (I John 5:11-13, NIV).
Is the Evangelical Christian faith a religion or a relationship or both?
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To answer this somewhat unexpected question, one must ask, from whose perspective?
Many Evangelical Christians would easily agree that true Christianity is not a religion, but a
personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. But once again we must define
terms to come to an understanding of how this could possibly be true. Religion can be defined as
man’s desire or attempts to reach God, Nirvana, eternal life, or whatever concept one wants to use
to reflect reaching the hear-after (Driscoll 2008). But in EC, salvation is a free gift of God that
must simply be accepted by faith and repentance. In every “religion” it is man who must seek to
reach God on his own efforts, usually through good works or by following a list of do’s
and don’ts. It usually boils down to whether ones good works outweigh ones bad works or deeds
to determine ones eternal destination by God or a “righteous judge” or karma. An “equation” for
the biblical EC, non-religious “formula” for saving faith and resulting changed life is listed
below in blue:
Grace + Saving Faith/Repentance = Eternal Salvation + Good Works & Fruit (both internal and external)
The Roman Catholic or liberal Christian equation would look much like what is in red below:
Grace + Baptism + Good Works + Mass = Purgatory or Eternal Life or Loss of Salvation (Depend on actions)
As one can see, in this methodology, man is responsible for his own destiny and because all men
are sinners, any Sacerdotal or “do it yourself” method is doomed to failure no matter how hard
one tries or how “good” they are (Driscoll 2008).
Are there different fear of death levels in various denominations of Christianity?
To answer quite simply, “Yes” (Berger 2001, Patrick 1979). The more characteristics of
commitment and evangelicalism, the lower the fear of death found in more liberal or moderate
denominations. Even some atheists scored lower on death anxiety than some subjects who called
themselves Christians, but were not living a committed lifestyle.
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Conclusion
Will these factors produce a lower fear of death for Evangelical Christians?
It is fitting to conclude our literature review with our last research question. This
researcher’s hypothesis is quite specific, and he is looking for a well-defined believer of the
Christian faith. It would be both helpful and interesting to carry out this project to completion to
see whether the hypothesis would be significant. If true, would it not be a great message to share
with those who are interested among the millions of Americans and other nationalities from
around the globe who struggle with death anxiety in differing degrees.
Because no specific studies pertaining specifically to the EC defined in our research
project were found at this point, we will have to wait until one is located that is dispositive or
hope that one is completed with these parameters. In closing, this researcher would like to
reiterate that becoming an EC is a choice, not a work based on one’s own efforts. It comes
through repentance of all efforts to please God by one’s own methods, and trusting only and
completely in the shed blood of Christ on the cross to cleanse us from all sin. How fitting that
the Greek word for “evangelical” means, “good news” !!!
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