What Religious Group Fears Death the Most

The afterlife seems to be an overwhelmingly dead end for one particular people group—and it’s not the nonreligious.

Tibetan Buddhist monastics—a community of Buddhist monks and nuns—are reported to fear death the most when compared to several other people groups: nonreligious Westerners, Hindus, Christians, lay Tibetans, and lay Bhutanese. The studies were conducted by Harvard Divinity School, the University of Arizona’s department of Philosophy, and other institutions.

The researchers examined how cultural views of self might determine the level of fear associated with death. Buddhist teachings claim the concept of no-self helps to mitigate fear of death and egocentricity. Since Buddhists believe there is no self outside of the body or mind, these findings were surprising—even to the experts. Read More

Related Study:
Supplemental Material for Death and the Self