Psychosocial study on death, life, health and illness: analysis of scientific, religious and secular beliefs of absolute supremacy

Abstract

Questions about the meaning of “human being” are difficult to answer. In fact, there is a growing belief that human beings are the rulers of the earth, and two worldviews prevail, the religious and the scientific, which differ in giving the same answer. When considering the study of fundamental phenomena for human beings such as life, death, health and disease, via supremacist beliefs, their value as guides for human behavior is raised. Therefore, it is important that the objectives of education encourage their discussion and verification. The present research proposes a study on the beliefs of absolute supremacy towards life, death, health and disease, by means of the elaboration of an instrument to know the coexistence or independence between religious, secular and scientific beliefs. A non-probabilistic sample of 1200 participants collaborated. A 43-item instrument was applied to measure beliefs. A a=0.90 and a total explained variance of 54.45% were obtained. The results of Pearson’s correlation show coexistence between scientific, religious and secular beliefs, which due to their content generate a series of controversies when there are negative transgressions between them. Research carried out thanks to the Support Program for Research and Technological Innovation Projects (PAPIIT) of the DGAPA-UNAM, code IN300521.