Love, Grief, and Hope: - Emotional responses to death and dying in the UK

Of particular relevance to the themes of this report, it finds that the interplay of grief and hope in this theology holds space for the many complex emotions people feel as they come to terms with death – and in the end, gives voice to our intuition that grief is really about love. [...] Part one considers our emotions around the prospect of our own deaths and the deaths of our loved ones, while part two considers the future of grief in the UK – focusing on the emerging influence of ‘grief technology’ and the continued role of churches in this changing landscape. [...] This is not a problem unique to the UK,6 but has been the focus of various campaigns to bring down the cost of dying, from the Quaker “Down to 47 Love, Grief, and Hope Earth” programme to the government’s establishment of Funeral Expenses Payments and a Children’s Funeral Fund for England to cover the cost of funerals in cases of child bereavement.7 More recently, the 2021 Funeral Market Investiga. [...] This is not a wholesale rejection of the spiritual dimension of funeral rites: that one in 5 of the general population do still view reflecting on the meaning of life and death as a key purpose of the funeral, rising to over a third (34%) among frequent religious attenders, indicates that at least a sizeable minority of the population still view 53 Love, Grief, and Hope the funeral rite squarely w. [...] Again, demographic factors were at play when respondents considered the purpose of the funeral rite: — Gender: Men were more likely than women to think a funeral should help people reflect on the meaning of life and death (25% compared to 16%), and less likely than women to choose the pastoral options: 58% of male respondents thought the purpose of a funeral was to provide a space for mourning wit.