Humanists and the Afterlife\ Flashcards
What is a humanist?
- non religious worldview.
They hold no belief in God, don’t follow a religion and do not believe in any form of the afterlife - they base evidence heavily on science
What is their slogan?
“For the one life we have”
What do they think about life after death?
They live on through memories of other people, through ways they have influenced the world or biologically.
they believe that their atoms will turn into other things like trees.
live a good life not for a sense of reward but to be good in the world.
Death is a natural part of life and we should come to terms with it.
What do they think about the resurrection?
Do not believe that Jesus rose from the dead because at death the person ceases to exist and therfore resurrection cannot happen
What are quotes that atheists have said?
” There is no evidence to support the idea that our minds could survive the end of our bodies”
“If life were eternal, wouldn’t it lose much of what gives it shape, structure, meaning and purpose.”
“Death is a natural part of life”
what do they believe about religous evidence for life after death?
- different religions have different ideas: if it were true they would all say the same things about it. e.g reincarnation of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and one life leading to judgement and heaven and hell of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
- The evidence for life after death is either based on holy books and there is no way a non-believer could decide which holy book should be believed, or the paranormal, which has been criticised by scientists.
what do they believe about the soul.
- we can only recognise people by their bodies so how would we recognise souls without bodies? If souls survive death then they would be alone with no way of contacting others which would not be the ideal image for life after death.
- the mind cannot exist without the brain
What do they believe about where after life takes place.
- if there is no God, there is nothing non-material, so there is no heaven to go to.
- Space exploration has shown there is no heaven above the sky and physics has shows there is no non-material world on Earth. Where could it take place?
