How Religion Comforts the Dying: A Qualitative Inquiry

Abstract

Although considerable social science research has explored religiosity and death anxiety, and many have theorized that religion comforts the dying, with speculations on the mechanisms by which religion comforts, very little research has asked people who were actually dying to discuss religion. This article reports on answers given by 38 hospice patients to the questions: Is religion a comfort to you? How does religion comfort you? This study found that religion, when it comforted these dying people, did so by offering a relationship to the dying, by giving the hope of life after death, through identifications, and through the assurance of cosmic order. The authors suggest theoretical perspectives accounting for these functions.