More proof that theists are really atheists in the closet.

But, but, "everyone knows" that even if religion is untrue, it does provide 'comfort'...

No-one in general wants to acknowledge that religion may not be such an great source of comfort, especially when it really might be needed....

I read about another study involving prayer, I don't remember where, I read a lot of magazines like Skeptical Inquirer, Humanist, etc and I believe it was in one of them. In this study patients with serious conditions were told they were being prayed for by groups from around the world while others were not told anything.  The study was supposed to be on the efficacy of prayer.  Anyway, those who were told they were being prayed for fared worse than the others, apparently because they left everything in god's hands and made no effort on their own believing god would answer other's selfless prayers.  The mind can be a powerful thing in its own right.

Coping with a serious illness on your own with only your belief may not be as comforting as having a bunch of people around the world praying for you.  Personally, I agree with Vastet.  I think they were like I percieve most fundies to be; they break almost every commandment every day and ask forgiveness on Sunday, but deep down they know they're going to hell.   That's why they fought so hard at the end.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7949111.stm is the link.

They mention that the more religious people were less likely to sign DNR papers. I speculate that  this may be because signing a DNR might be percieved as akin to suicide by the more religion persons. *shrug*

How about there are no true theists 100% of the time. Except perhaps a few in the psychotic wards of mental hospitals.

 Hmm... Let me see if I can explain it a little better.  I'm still forming this line of thought, so it might or might not pan out.

I'm not suggesting that there are no people who genuinely believe they'll see their loved ones after death, and that they don't take comfort in the idea.  That would be absurd.  What I'm suggesting is that on an objective level, people who believe in such things are not more comforted or more at ease than those who don't.

It's admittedly a hard thing to measure, but studies like this one are a step in that direction.  What I'm saying is that I think belief in an afterlife is not a special benefit to people.  Everyone just accepts the belief that theists are more comforted than non-theists because that's what religion addresses in such detail.

Not that a personal example proves anything, but I feel much more at ease about the whole process of living and dying than I did when I believed in an afterlife.  I realize that I will never see my dead loved ones again, and it's ok.  I'm happy with the time I had with them.  I'm ok with my own mortality.  I live well, and when I die, I'll die.  

I guess what it comes down to is the more I learn about the way the human mind works, the more I suspect that people don't actually need many of the things religion says they need.  I believe future research will bear this out.

Certainly not. No study provides proof. This is just evidence to contradict the popular notion that religion confers some special benefit that wouldn't otherwise be available to a person.

Hamby, I think the study shows that people who are willing to try anything are willing to try anything. Christos reinforces that by saying that sometimes, all these people have is their religion. Understandable, then, that they would use whatever focus they had at their disposal to detract from the effects of trauma. If all they had was some other cultural ritual, they would most likely use that. Apparently, that alternative isn't available to many people.

Yeah, you have to be a little afraid of dying, at least, or there's something wrong with you.

I got a good term for ya. "Science questions another "benefit of religion""

Yeah, I essentially agree with you Hamby. I think belief in the afterlife adds a certain level of assurance that an atheist cannot have. But I agree that a religious person isn't necessarily more at ease when facing death than an atheist. 

I have a lot of respect for that.

See Vastet, he used a personal example too. I know it doesn't necessarily prove anything, but it's still very relevant to the discussion.

To be perfectly clear, let's not use the word assurance.  Theists toss that word around a lot, but it's not appropriate.  Too many people think of assurances as guarantees, and attribute that level of certainty to the theist belief in an afterlife.  Nobody can give anybody any assurance regarding the afterlife because nobody's ever come back from clinical death to say if they're still alive or not.  All a theist has is a firm belief that they will continue to live after they die.  

Personally, I find the idea of living forever to be horrible.  I wouldn't wish it on anybody.  I find a lot of peace in the belief that when I die, I simply won't exist anymore.  If you like, I feel comforted by the prospect of non-existence.  I am coming to believe that humans generally handle their own mortality quite well when it is presented to them rationally.

Actually, while I'm on personal anecdotes, let me recount some of my thinking from when I was a Christian.  I was smart enough to realize that all the talk in the world about being 100% certain of my belief couldn't make it 100% certain.  I was keenly aware that there were other religions that promised hell to nonbelievers.  No matter how much I tried to convince myself that I had nothing to fear, the fact that I believed there was some afterlife caused more fear in me than I have now.  In other words, believing in an afterlife forced me to  question whether or not I had chosen the correct path to an afterlife.  Though I thought I'd probably go to heaven when I died, I wasn't a hundred percent sure... there was always the real and terrifying possibility that Christians were wrong and Muslims were right, or maybe that Catholics were right and Baptists were wrong... or whatever.  The point is, my belief in an afterlife was not as comforting as my current belief in a non-afterlife.  I have no lingering doubts about waking up in hell because hell is an absurd concept and certainly does not exist unless the universe is so amazingly unlike it appears that I must be insane or otherwise fooled.  Such fears are pointless since there's nothing I can do if that is the case.

Do you get what I'm talking about?  Without the religious notion of an afterlife to begin with, we eliminate a reason to fear death.  Rather than offer comfort, it actually gives us one more thing to worry about.

 I guess what it comes down to is this.  Some people are afraid of not existing.  Others aren't.  This would surely be the case with or without religion.  I'm becoming convinced that the promise of an afterlife might seem like it would comfort, but in reality, it doesn't.  When you add in the stress of possible eternal punishment, the smart money seems to be on not believing in an afterlife and dealing with whatever fear you have -- at least you're minimizing the things you have to worry about.

Not that this would be a good logical reason to become an atheist... it wouldn't... but you get my point, right?  Here's an interesting breakdown:

1) Afterlife with reward and punishment -- adds stress

2) Afterlife with only reward -- fine... but... what's the punch line?  Why follow the religion?  I can't think of any religions that say, "Hey, there's an afterlife, and it's really awesome.  That's all.  Go about your business and have a great life.

3) No afterlife -- ok, so deal with death.  It sucks, but everybody does it.

It seems to me that the only reason to mention an afterlife is to try to get people to do things the way you want.  That doesn't line up with the evolutionary purpose of religion being to comfort people about death, and it doesn't line up with the notion that Christians are better at dealing with death than atheists.