The attitude of a person to his future death is one of the main issues of any religion. It is believed that people who are on the verge of life and death and survived the traumatic experience, almost inevitably turn to God. Scientists from the United States, who studied religiousness among servicemen, confirmed: the participants in real battles, especially those who were wounded, are really strengthened in the faith - at least they tend to visit services more often and pray.

A study on the impact of military experience on the level of religiosity was held by Resul Sesur, Travis Freidman and Joseph Sabia; the results of their work in August 2018 were published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Briefly they are retold by The Economist.

In their work, economists based on two studies of American soldiers in the late 2000s. One of them covered 482 people, the second - almost 11.6 thousand people. Scientists also excluded the possibility that the majority of respondents were initially too pious, since in the US Army in the distribution of combat missions personal religious beliefs are not taken into account. At the same time, three quarters of the participants in the research said that they pray outside the temples, and more than 15% go to church weekly.

The available data showed that soldiers serving in "hot spots" are more likely to visit religious services more regularly than those who did not participate in hostilities (the difference between the two categories of respondents is seven percentage points).

Those who directly fell under enemy fire are inclined to go to church at least once every two weeks. Also, servicemen involved in operations often pray outside the temples.

The scholars noted that religiousness is the strongest among young soldiers (aged 18-24), conscripts, women servicemen and non-officers. According to researchers, this, in particular, can be explained by the impressionability and vulnerability of young people, especially survivors of trauma and injury.