Belief in the soul has a surprising benefit!

Belief in the soul protects a person from fear of the apocalypse, according to a new study from the University of Arizona.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - A team of researchers led by Uri Lifshin from the University of Arizona, performed a study to determine if belief in the soul makes a difference in attitudes towards the end of the world.

People were divided into two categories, those who believed in a soul, and that they would live after death, and those who only believed in a symbolic form of life after death, such as living in the memories of children.

They then presented the two groups with an article that detailed the end of humanity.

The group that believed in a soul performed better, expressing less anxiety over the possibility. This group was more accepting of their supposed fate. As for the non-believers, they expressed much more anxiety and found the scenario they read to be threatening.

The researchers also studied what happens when the possibility of the end of the world is much more distant. They found that soul-believers still fared better, and became a little more concerned about their likely impact on the world.

The study's results could suggest why believers in the soul tend to have less concern for questions of the environment and of death in general, because they have confidence in what will happen after death. This contrasts with those who have no such belief, who express concerns for how they will be remembered, if at all.

Belief in the soul provides a psychological buffer, according to the scientists.

Belief in the soul and an afterlife is ubiquitous among the world's religions. In the United States, 40 percent of the population believes the end times will occur before 2050.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'