Humanists more ‘at ease’ discussing death than Christians, poll finds

Co-op Funeralcare found that while 75 per cent of humanists “were most at ease discussing death” with their family, 66 per cent of Christians and Agnostics were happy to.

Rev George Pitcher, a journalist and author, told Premier he understands why Christians may fear death.

“It’s difficult to talk about [death] in relation to our children certainly and I think when it comes to life insurance and those sorts of arrangements those are things that we might tend to avoid,” he explained.

“But I think, as with any other of the major issue in our lives – and our deaths must be one of the most major issues that we face in our lives – we probably address it prayerfully and in doing so with the help of God’s grace, we’ll find a way through it.”

Hindus scored lowest with only 49 per cent being relatively comfortable to discuss their death compared with 52 per cent of Muslims.

Rev Pitcher said his experience painted a different picture to the study’s message.

He added: “My anecdotal evidence as a priest in the Church of England is that people of faith are invariably relaxed about their mortality when the time comes.

“I think I’d want to know what kind of questions the Co-op were asking in their survey.

“Those of us with faith consider death rather more complicated as an issue than a simple termination of an organism so I imagine that we might reply in rather more complex ways to…