On the Researches into the Thanatological Attitudes of the Youth who Belong to the Catholic Religious Movements

Abstract

The paper is a report on the researches into the attitudes towards death, adopted by youth. The experimental group consisted of persons related with the Catholic religious movements. The control group entailed those persons who adopted positive religious attitudes, but did not participate in the life and activity of the religious movements. Both groups were equal as regards sex, age, their origin and education. Participation in a religious movement modifies the attitudes towards death. These persons’ experience of death is to a lesser extent imbued with tragic overtones, fear, absurdity and a sense of destruction. Death is perceived as a valuable event. The changes which come about here most probably occur in the context of the transformation of the religious attitudes and the attitudes towards life.