Death Anxiety

Humans have a death anxiety that no other creatures on Earth have. This is because we can think in the future tense and plan for tomorrow instead of surviving right now, today. Some sociologists claim that religion is a coping mechanism for this anxiety. My second question this week was what a naturalist would  use to cope with this anxiety in loo of religion.

A naturalist who relies on their answers from scientifically observable facts would probably be better at coping with this death anxiety. Many people who base their beliefs off of science accept death more readily than those who believe in a higher power. Death is simply a fact of life. Our bodies simply decay and we must end our time on this Earth. To explain people who die young science could say it is the survival of the fittest. If that person had grown to maturity they would have undesirable traits or they would no be able to pass on any traits because of some medical or social issue. This explanation is not very satisfying but is more than nothing and could be a reason why some people turn to religion. Religion explains some things that science can not but science also explains some things that religion can not.

Overall a naturalist may be worried about death but could probably rationalize it more than a supernaturalist. A supernaturalist would ask questions such as "But I am a good person, why would God want me to die?" whereas a naturalist may think "I don't want to die but I know that it is inevitable and when my body has taken to much I will die."