Seven heavens? The character and importance of afterlife belief among contemporary Australians

Abstract

This article draws on in-depth qualitative interviews with 52 people to examine the meaning and character of afterlife belief among contemporary Australians. It explores the varieties of afterlife belief and considers the impact such beliefs have, particularly in relation to death and dying. The analysis reveals that afterlife belief is varied, individualistic and mainly arrived at with little to no reference to orthodox religious teaching. People variously believe in heaven, reincarnation, life on another plane or something more abstract. Those who follow faithfully a religious tradition are largely ignorant of detailed theological doctrines about life after death and like other kinds of believers, exercise their own authority and judgment over matters of belief.

Keywords:

• afterlife belief
• religious change
• spirituality
• bereavement

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank the two anonymous referees for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 All estimates in this article are from statistical analysis done by the author. Those who carried out the original analysis and collection of the data bear no responsibility for this analysis.