Belief in a martyrs’ afterlife suppresses the death instinct

Evidence

Their vision of a blessed afterlife through martyrdom overrode the drive for self-preservation. This mode of terrorism is especially frightening because people can do little to protect themselves from individuals who are not deterred by the fear of death and are willing to sacrifice themselves for a higher cause. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2227

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2227
• XREF: connects to: Humans deflect death anxiety onto cultural symbols, and defending those symbols produces real-world evil — Jeff Greenberg and Spee Kosloff, Terror Management Theory: Implications…, 25; Cults can institutionalize suicide bombing and redefine natural death as cowardice