Far from religion, close to death: Non-religious people's death and life perception in Turkey in the context of terror management theory

The perception of death and life within paradigms are two elements that mutually shape each other. Religions offer their followers ideas and behavioral patterns regarding making sense of life and death. It is a matter of curiosity how people who are far from religion in Turkey, where the majority are Muslim, make sense of death and life. In this context, this study examines how religiously distant individuals in Turkey make sense of life and death within the framework of Terror Management Theory, under the headings of perception of death, strategies for coping with difficult situations and purpose of life. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten people from seven cities of seven regions of Turkey, and the data was coded in the Atlas-ti program and subjected to discourse analysis. Within the framework of our findings, people who are far from religion in Turkey have four views on death (absolute end, unknowable, not important and alternative views), four on coping (suggestion/rationalisation, prayer, social relations, creating a world) and three on the meaning of life (none, individual, social) it was observed that the main pattern emerged. In the context of the relationship between these three topics, the participants are divided into four groups in terms of their discourses: cosmic survivors, atheists on the plane, highbrows and devotees.