It is fear of the unknown.
Governments have to do with regulation stuff in this life.
Nobody has clearly returned from the next life to explain what it is like. Many people have said that they have seen visions (etc.) from the next life, but nobody knows fore sure if they were just dreaming.
Since we don't know about the next life, we have fear. Nobody like to live in fear, because it makes him uncomfortable, and messes up his ability to have fun in this life. So people try to avoid the inevitable.
I am not talking about the next life from which you might return in a sense of clinic death or similar.
I am talking about a continuous life after your body cease to support your basic functions, but your mind is still there.
Think of it that way.
If you lose your legs, is it still you? Certainly yes
If you lose all your limbs, still you? You are.
How about losing the ability to move except your eyes, still you, right? Somewhere inside of your paralysed body.
What if you find a way to sustain just your head, without the body. Would that still be you?
I know Im reaching the territory of endless disputes about the location of a soul, but I believe, it is all in our heads and one day, soon enough, we well face the question of whether to just die or live on only under different set of rules.