A recent medical study conducted by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that the more religiously devout a person is the more likely they are to demand to be kept alive using extraordinary measures even if such measures decreased their quality of life or put undue emotional and financial strain on others. In fact, people of faith are significantly more likely to use intensive life prolonging measures. This at first seemed a little strange to me because I would think that a person who really and truly believed that after they die, they will still be alive (in a perfect paradise of all places), would be looking forward to an “Earthly” death and not trying to run away from death through the use of Science (of all things).
I think this study may show something deeper. I think it suggests that maybe the religious aren’t as devout believers in a Heavenly afterlife (with or without the virgins) as they may claim. Perhaps this study shows that after a lifetime of self-deception, the real truth is that no one really believes in a magical Heaven after all. I guess that if someone believes that they will live forever, they might get a little freaked out when the thought occurs to them that they are actually going to die. Death is a part of life and to quote Captain Kirk, “How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.” It seems to me that people of faith tend to be afraid to live and so it really isn’t all that surprising that they should also be afraid to die.
While non-believers live our lives more fully with reasonable certainty that this life is all there is; we tend to be more content with the knowledge that we will one day die. And so when that day draws near, we seem to be more willing to accept it and live that last moment. Aristotle put it best when he said that it is only at the end of one’s life when we can truly judge the happiness of our lives.
Comments
I like this post .It also null and voids the Christian saying that there are no Atheists in the Foxholes during combat .....
Just because someone is shooting at me doesn`t validate a god to me .. It means we`re getting Shot at ......Period .
Believers don't accept death, they make death into another place to live. I think that most of them can distingush between fiction and non-fiction but don't want to admit it "just in case" (as they say so often). The Atheist in foxholes thing, that's just projection. One might say "Oh my god!" if something happens that they weren't expecting (good or bad) but that doesn't mean they are changing their mind about their beliefs or lack of. To actually take the time and pray before (what you think is going to happen) you die, takes some serious thought and I'm pretty sure most are thining either "I don't want to die." or " I guess this is it." However, I do think that although your average Atheist would say he/she is afraid of dying, most have accepted the fact that at some point in their lives, they will die. That is the major difference.
My theory is that the faithful fear death because they aren't quite sure that they have done enough to get into heaven (or paradise, or valhalla, or whatever). This uncertainty can breed fear. ("I stole that Hershey bar when I was 6, and never got absolution -- will that send me to hell?" or "I coveted my neighbor's ass and was never forgiven for it -- am I going to hell for that?") As an atheist, I have no such worries. I can covet as many asses as I want without fear of retribution in a non-existent afterlife.
Staks Rosch wrote
> we tend to be more content with the knowledge that we will one day die.
"Content" is the wrong word here, IMO. The difference is that we've had more time to *prepare* for it, to *accept* that it is inevitable and unavoidable. That doesn't make me content with it. I'd much prefer to live forever, or at least a whole lot longer.
But as Sagan said, better the hard truth, than the comforting fantasy. Religion grossly devalues life, but refusing to acknowledge that it ends.
edward J baker wrote:
> It null and voids the Christian saying that there are no Atheists in the Foxholes
My response to that old chestnut has always been: There are no a-Zeus-ist in thunderstorms. Oh wait...
I stand by the contentment comment, but I am going to steal your "no-aZeusists in thunderstorms comment.
Yes, there does appear to be some irony there, but it's no greater than the irony that those who are most marginalized are also the most intolerant. I found this curious among Mormons, who were persecuted for their beliefs for decades and now are the persecutors of "non-Mormons" living in Utah. Today I find it curious among atheists who have been persecuted for their beliefs for centuries, as you talk about people being "delusional" and "self-deceiving." Instead of saying, "I believe that there is a God," religious people say, "You know God is real -- face it." Instead of saying, "I believe there is no God," atheists say, "You know there is no God -- face it." Instead of talking to each other, people mostly talk at each other. I would think those whose views are marginalized would be the first to recognize the value of tolerance, but instead, they are the first to turn the tables and harass those who disagree with them. Valuable sociology lesson, IMHO.
I think you're totally wrong about this being a sign that people don't believe. Life-long, voluntary self-deception is a very naive conclusion to draw from this study. What's more likely is that people who are believers will be those who are frightened of their own mortality and thus more likely to struggle to prolong their lives when the end is impending.
As per Occam's Razor, the most likely explanation is that most religions teach that suicide is a sin, and that since we belong to God and not to ourselves, it's our obligation to keep ourselves alive as long as he might have a use for us.
Captain Kirk? Really?? Thousands of years of religious philosophy and the best quote you can come up with is a fictional character from a sci-fi television series? Really??
Hey, I like Captain Kirk. Besides, he is much better than the fictional character Christian quote all the time. I take my wisdom where I find it.
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