Atheists, when faced with their own death, consciously develop an even greater scepticism over the existence of a God, research has found.



However those who were religious also had their beliefs strengthened by the thought of their imminent demise.



In three separate studies a group of Otago University researchers assigned 265 student participants, religious and non religious, to either a "death primed" group or a control group.



Priming involved asking participants to write about their own death or, in the control condition, write about watching TV.



In the first study researchers found that death-primed religious participants consciously reported greater belief in religious entities than similar participants who had not been primed for death.



Non-religious participants who had been primed for death showed the opposite effect - they reported an even greater disbelief in the existence of religious entities than they normally held.



Associate Professor Jamin Halberstadt, the study's co-author, said the results fitted with the theory that the fear of death prompted people to defend their own world view, regardless of whether it was a religious or non-religious one.



The two other studies, however, showed that unconsciously, while death-priming made religious participants more certain about the existence of religious entities, non-religious participants were slower to express their disbelief.



The techniques used to study unconscious beliefs included measuring the speed with which participants affirmed or denied the existence of God and other religious entities.



Of those who were faced with the thought of their death, religious participants were faster to press a button to affirm God's existence, but non-religious participants were slower to press the denial button.



"These findings may help solve part of the puzzle of why religion is such a persistent and pervasive feature of society.



"Fear of death is a near-universal human experience and religious beliefs are suspected to play an important psychological role in warding off this anxiety," Halberstadt said.