Does belief in afterlife reduct the death anxiety?

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It seems that the afterlife has no connection with real daily life for the moderns.Since the demonstration of the existence of afterlife is impossible, an assertion on the existence will be turned into ridicule.Most people may think that an afterlife is no more than superstition in modern society accustomed to rational thought.But since the 1980, a harmful influence of scientism was indicated everywhere, and the spiritual orientation became prevalent among young people.It does not matter whether their orientaion is serious or fun. The important is arecurrence of a mysticism.The purpose of this study is to make clear whether belief in afterlife has a reductional function of death anxiety or not in our society.In study 1, studies in Christian culture were reviewed critically, and investigations were made on the death anxiety and death perspectives of undergraduate students and their parents.In study 2, the multidimensional structure of attitudes toward afterlife and death was studied, considering the Japanese mentality.In study 3, the effect of death anxiety on belief in afterlife was experimentally investigated on the base of study 1 and 2.The above studies made clear that belief in afterlife is strongly related to death anxiety, and it diminishes death anxiety for religious people, but it is not true for nonreligious people.