Correlates of Willingness to Die for One's Religion and One's Country in American and Filipino Populations

Abstract

A population of 780 Filipinos and 398 Americans were compared across cultural and religious groups on variables of willingness to die for one's religious beliefs and willingness to die for one's country. A significantly higher percentage of Filipinos as compared to American respondents acknowledged their willingness to die for their religious beliefs and for their country. Death anxiety and death depression had a significant negative correlation with willingness to die for one's religious beliefs in the American Protestant group but not for the American Catholics or Filipinos. For Americans being male correlated significantly with their willingness to die for their country. For Protestants religious variables related to strength of attachment to their belief system were highly correlated with willingness to die for their religious beliefs but not with their willingness to die for their country. Willingness to die appears specifically related to a belief or social group. Belief in an afterlife is one variable that showed a relatively consistent relationship between the questions of willingness to die for one's religion and willingness to die for one's country.