A belief in some sort of afterlife is a common theme one finds in most world religions. The two are often intertwined to the point that they seem hard to separate. There's something waiting for you after you die. Religion will provide you with a roadmap so you'll know how to get there. That's a powerful selling point. Some have even suggested that this is vital to understanding the appeal of religion.
Is it possible to separate belief in an afterlife from religion? Could we have one without the other? I'm inclined to think that we could. It would look different, but I'm not sure that belief in an afterlife has to involve religion.
For the record, I don't believe in any sort of afterlife. The sentient part of us (i.e., the part we'd call "I") seems to live in our brains. When the brain dies, I don't imagine any of the "I" surviving. We could talk about energy transfer of some kind. But I see little reason to believe that any such energy would capture the "I." I suppose it could be a remnant of some sort, but it wouldn't be us. That said, it is fun to speculate about what an afterlife without religion might entail.
Someone could believe in disembodied spirits without religion. Someone could also believe in the existence of a "spirit world" without religion. Such a person might believe that our spirits roam a parallel plane of existence after we die. We could all end up in the same place.
One could believe that there is only one world and that the living share it with the dead. They are among us but invisible to us until we die and join them. There are so many possibilities!
Without religion, we wouldn't have a divine arbiter deciding who went where. Afterlife would no longer be about rewards or punishments. There would be no pretense of "cosmic justice." We could all end up together along with everyone who had ever lived.
For the living, there would be no need for a roadmap. We wouldn't need instructions about who to grovel before or how best to grovel before them. The afterlife would be the next phase of existence, and we'd all experience it.
If living people believed something like this, would they have any use for religion? Would they need clergy or churches? I realize that churches can provide community for some. But without the presumed link between religion and an afterlife, we might find alternatives.
But wouldn't anything close to what I've described undermine morality? I'm not so sure. If the only reason a child behaves well is to avoid punishment, we wouldn't consider that a moral child. If the only reason an adult behaves is the pursuit of heaven, are they moral?
Image by Med Ahabchane from Pixabay
