THE EFFECTS OF RELIGION AND RELIGIOUSNESS ON NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE BELIEFS


Research of Literature

In his article "On the Experience of Nearly Dying," Hunter presented a case report of a patient who experienced a near-death episode as a result of a severe drug allergy reaction. Hunter then analyzed this case using medical and psychological criteria. He asserted that since there was no oxygen deprivation, the central nervous system should not have been affected, therefore the episode was of a purely psychological nature He then analyzed the various components of the episode, using psychoanalytic reasoning, and concluded that the patient "was enjoying a markedly wish-fulfilling dream...."(Hunter, 1967, p 126)

In "The Experience of Dying," Noyes presented case reports, and a "model" of the form taken by Near Death Experiences. He took a Freudian approach in his analysis, asserting that the accounts given confirmed the theory that the threat of dying is reduced to the threat of bodily death, while the psyche remains "immortal." The conciousness is kept from the reality of death because the "self" dissociates from the body, and this becomes a defence against the threat of death. Noyes then stated that although this ability resides within everyone; youth, femininity, and artistic temperament should favorably influence the experience of a near-death episode. (Noyes, 1972, pp 174-184)

In "Documenting the Near-Death Experience," Rogo presented accounts by patients who had experienced near-death episodes, and explored the research of many of the doctors and psychiatrists who have studied this phenomenon. He discussed the major criticisms of NDE research, and reviewed the major points of research by Ring, Sabom and Kreutziger, Schoonmaker, Rawlings, and Garfield. He then noted that of these researchers, only Garfield has concluded that these episodes are the result of physical or psychological causes, while the rest believe they tend to support the idea of life after death. (Rogo, 1986)


The Research Study: University of Southern Indiana Research Project

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects religion, age, and education have upon belief in and experience of "Near Death" phenomena. The propositons to be tested were: (1) religion has no effect on Near Death Experiences (NDE), (2) age has a positive relationship with NDEs, and (3) education has an inverse relationship with NDEs.

"Near Death Experience," as the dependent variable, was divided into four measurable variables: (1) belief in the soul's survival of bodily death, (2) belief that NDE reports are generally true, (3) belief in what causes NDEs, and (4) personal experience of an NDE. Religion, age,and education were independent variables. Religion was divided into two variables: (1) religious affiliation, and (2) degree of religiousness. Religion was then recoded into a religious index with six categories: (1) devout Catholic, (2) devout Protestant, (3) devout Other, (4) non-religious Catholic, (5) non-religious Protestant, and (6) non-religious Other. Age was divided into seven categories: (1) 17-24, (2) 25-32, (3) 33-40, (4) 41-48, (5) 49-56, (6) 57-64, and (7) 65+. Age was then recoded into two variables: (1) 17-32, and (2) 33 and older. Education was divided into two variables: (1) current educational level, and (2) area of major.

The hypotheses these variables were used to test were: (1) There is no relationship between the religious index and the four near-death variables. (2) The higher the age-group is, the stronger the beliefs will be. (3) The higher a person's educational level, the stronger the disbelief will be.

A secondary purpose of this study was to test Dr. Russell Noyes' theory that youth, femininity, and artistic temperament should have a positive effect upon near-death episodes. (Noyes, 1972) Youth was represented by the variable age, femininity by the variable sex, and artistic temperament by the Humanities category within the variable area of major, as the Humanities Division includes art, music, creative writing, and theatre.

This study was conducted at the University of Southern Indiana. The sample of 204 college students was drawn using a "captive audience" method. Data was gathered by means of questionnaires given to students in three different Forum classes. Questionnaires were filled out by respondents, then collected. The respondents were informed that the survey was being conducted for a sociology research project, and that participation was voluntary and anonymous.

The sample group was 40% male and 60% female, with 94% aged 17-32. Sixty-seven percent were freshmen, and the three highest percentages for major areas of study were: 32% business, 22% education, and 17% social sciences.

Although 25% of the sample had either experienced themselves, or known someone who had experienced a near-death episode, there were no statistically significant relationships between experience and any other variable, including sex, age, religion, and religiousness. However, the other three NDE variables (belief in soul's survival, truth of NDE reports, and cause of NDEs) did have statistically significant relationships with both religion variables. The two religious variables were computed to form the religious index (religdex); belief in soul survival was recoded into the belief index (belidex), with "very strong" and "strong" beliefs becoming "believe," and "skeptical" and "strong disbelief" becoming "disbelieve;" belief that NDE reports are generally true was recoded into the truth index (trudex), with "always" and "quite often" true becoming "yes," and "seldom" and "never" true becoming "no."

There was a very consistent relationship betwen all three dependent variables and the independent (religious index). In tables 1a and 2a, the devout Catholics had consistently higher percentages of belief than the devout Protestants, and the devout Protestants had consistantly higher percentages of belef than the devout Others. In table 3a, the majority of both devout Catholics and Protestants believed that NDEs were caused by the soul leaving the body, but here again, the devout Catholics Catholics had a higher percentage of believers than did the devout Protestants. When controlled for age, these same relationships held true for the 17-32 age-group (tables 1b, 2b, and 3b), but lost their significance for respondents 33 years and older (tables 1c, 2c, and 3c).

These findings, rather than support the hypotheses and propositions this study was based upon, tend to support the directly opposite view. Instead of finding no relationship between the religious index and the near-death variables, it was found that there was a positive relationship between the religious index and three of the near-death variables. Instaed of finding that the strongest beliefs lay among the older respondents, it was found that the strongest beliefs actually were held by the younger respondents. Lastly, it was found that educational level had no effect upon either belef or disbelief.

The secondary purpose, of testing Noyes' theory, was a bit more successful. Although there was no support within the data for femininity or artistic temperament having an effect upon near-death episodes, tables 1b, 2b, and 3b clearly support Noyes' postulation that "youth" should have a positive effect upon Near Death Experiences.


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The two purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the effects of religion, age, and education on belief in and experience of Near Death Experiences, and (2) to test Noyes' theory that youth, femininity, and artistic temperament should have a positive effect on near-death phenomena. This study was conducted at the University of Southern Indiana with a non-probability sample of 204 respondents drawn from the student population. The instument used to collect data was a twenty-question questinnaire, handed out to students in Forum classes. The sample was three-fifths female, two-thirds freshmen, with 94% aged 17-32 years old. It was found that the working hypotheses were not supported, and that, in fact, the opposite was true of each hypothesis. It was also found that of Noyes' three variables, omly youth had an effect on near-death phenomena.

Perhaps the most interesting finding, though, was thatdevout Catholics show a consistently higher percentage of belief in the soul's survival of bodily death, the general truth of NDE reports, and that the soul leaving the body is the cause of near-death episodes, than did both the devout Protestants and Others.

One possible explanation of this relationship is the rich traditions of the Catholic Church. Throughout its history, there have been many saints and holy men and women who have had visions and visitations of a mystical, religious nature. Although the Protestant and other religions do have such traditions, they are only associated with the major religious figures,ie: Jesus, Mary, Buddha, Mohammud, &etc. In the Catholic faith, there are included "ordinary" people who have had mystical experiences, ie: Joan D'Arc, Francis D'Asisi, &etc. Perhaps, then, having examples and traditions of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary religious events makes it easier to belive that which one generally must believe through faith alone.

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