A comparison and contrast of arguments for belief in life after death such as the significance of the contextual beliefs providing a rationale to support claims of these beliefs, could be theological and or philosophical; implications of selected beliefs about God in this context; could be reference to selected scholars such as Hick and the replica theory; arguments against could include conceptual problems in belief in life after death including problems of whether or not language is at all appropriate in this context; difficulties with the supposed incoherence of some key concepts associated e.g. with dualism.
Hinduism, bodily reincarnation on earth, spiritual reincarnation in a perfect place, and the subtle body. N.b. But these are all what they believe not arguments for and against so beware! Why do religions teach that there is life after death? Suffering on this plane – Irenaean theodicy and the ‘vale of soul-making’ God’s purpose cannot be complete in this life…surely God would not create man for a life that was ultimately purposeless… If God is omnipotent then death cannot be the end… In Hinduism death is a teacher and only by dying will the soul find all the answers; there are four main goals in life and the last- moksha – is the liberation from this existence to union with the spirit of all that is! In Christianity the ultimate ‘proof’ is the death and resurrection of Jesus, to prove that we all can live after death. And John Hick believes that God creates an instant and complete replica of us upon resurrection. (This would according to him imply that this replica would be subject to reversal of the aging process and to healing processes, so that it becomes perfect.)
Now look at non-religious views: Many believe that they can remember some aspects of past lives. No proof – even the Sadducees in Jesus’ time did not believe in life after death and that you just had to make the best of it. No proof that anything lives on – how can it? Many philosophers have believed that we are comprised of much more than just a body that we have a soul e.g. Socrates, Plato (and Descartes who believed in Dualism.) All felt that we have a reasoning part – the desire for knowledge; a spiritual part – the desire for honour, prestige and virtue; and bodily desires. Plato and Socrates believed that the soul had possibly been born countless times before. In their time it was believed that life after death was a pale imitation of this life. Plato even argues at one stage that the body is a prison for the soul. And on the day of his death Socrates was noted for his calmness which he said came from his certainty that his soul would go to a better place. It was Plato who founded the idea of the place of perfect forms – heaven would therefore have these. However Hume believed we are no more than, ‘ a bundle of changing perceptions’.
In more modern times a theory of mind developed stating that it is just physical-biological processes like pain -an excited state of c-fibres – in the brain! This does not however answer the questions about where creativity and originality come from and why do we spend such a lot of time pondering questions about existence. If you cannot envision a soul then the idea of life after death would be pointless. Richard Dawkins is one of the foremost current opponents of religious belief, believing as he does that it slows us down, limits us and that we are merely subject to blind forces, there is no soul and no God. Evolution is simply a giant computer programme designed to produce life but that there is no rhyme nor reason for it and no purpose. The problem with this would be the idea that life is meaningless and therefore worthless – he disputes this saying that we have moral codes and should live by them finding purpose in overcoming the negative aspects of natural selection. Very affected by September 11th 2001 he coined the term ‘meme’ meaning a unit of cultural inheritance which transmits itself like a gene or a virus; religion is one such and that atrocity was an example of the worst form of that transmitted meme. To believe that death is not the end can lead to all sorts of dangerous nonsense. (Suicide bombers)