Religious Traditions and Grief in the USA: When it's Less About G-d and More About the People

Many turn to religion or spirituality for personal meaning, purpose, and guidance throughout our lifetime, including in the context of death and dying. However, we argue that religious doctrines or rituals, spiritual experiences, and faith communities often serve communicative functions, including socializing and connection, in the wake of life's most challenging experiences. Through the qualitative analysis of 159 open-ended survey responses from adults in the USA who had experienced the death of a parent, we examined the types of religious traditions, practices, and/or rituals that participants engaged in during their bereavement. We then explored how those practices were helpful, harmful to, or revealing of emergent interfaith family dynamics throughout their grief journeys. By better articulating the communicative role of religion in death and dying, we broaden the understanding of religion and grief in these important sociocultural contexts. We discuss implications for families and religious communities alike.