Is there life after death? Majority of Canadians believe they may have more than one life to live
For many Canadians, Easter weekend has become a secular holiday celebrated by students as spring break and marked with a statutory holiday for workers across the country. But the religious significance of the date still holds import for Christians, who celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and perhaps provides an opportunity for others to consider if there is life beyond what we know.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute, in partnership with Cardus, finds three-in-five Canadians believe there is some sort of life after death – whether that is the heaven or hell of the Christian faith, the Jannah or Jahannam of Islam, or the reincarnation of the soul believed by Sikhs and Hindus. The belief in the afterlife has been held at a majority level steadily in survey data seen back to 1960. Two-in-five (40%) say there is no life after this one, but only one-in-eight (13%) Canadians “definitely” rule it out.
As Christians celebrate the Holy Week, they do so with varying beliefs depending on their sect. Evangelical Christians are the most likely (92% say yes) to believe in life after death, while Roman Catholics express more doubt (67%). Among the other Abrahamic faiths, Muslims (87%) strongly believe while
Jews predominately doubt the existence of life after death at a majority level (60%). Hindus (71%), who celebrated the arrival of spring with Holi this week, and Sikhs (67%) are also firm in their belief of life after death.
Belief by religion
The belief in some sort of life after death is a core tenet of many religions including Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Buddhism; these are the religions that two-thirds (64%) of Canadians say they are followers of. What that life comprises varies by religion.
Christianity teaches that following Jesus Christ leads to eternity in heaven, while not following him leads to hell. For Muslims, it’s the Akhirah, or the hereafter, the afterlife experienced either in Jannah (paradise) or Jahannam (hell). The Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu text, describes the concept of that religion’s reincarnation, where the atman, or soul, enters a new body after death. In Sikhism, life is a cycle of samsara, or birth, death and rebirth, where souls are continuously reincarnated in new bodies.
The belief in life continuing after death is held by a consistent majority of Canadians. Currently, threein-five (60%) say they believe there is some sort of an afterlife though that varies from those whose belief is definite (28%) to those who are less certain (32%). Two-in-five (40%) believe one life is all humans get, including one-quarter (27%) who express some uncertainty and 13 per cent who rule it out entirely.
Majorities of Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs say they believe in a life after death. For Christians, belief varies in strength on a spectrum from Evangelicals to Roman Catholics. A majority of Jews disagree that there is a life after this one, perhaps reflecting that religion’s ambiguity on the matter.