Hollywood movies with afterlife themes are usually box office successes. A few years ago, the movie "Sixth Sense" where a little boy confides to his mother that he sees dead people was another big hit. A current afternoon TV program called Crossing Over, featuring a psychic who talks to the dead commands a huge audience.

          Over 80 per cent of Americans believe in heaven or some kind of existence after death. (www.WashingtonPost.com), Even skeptical people have had paranormal experiences. Every culture in history and all the world's religions have some belief in an afterlife. Let us have a look at some of them.

          Islam says there are heavens and hells and we go to the one designed for how good or bad we were.

          Judaism has no absolute belief but there is a hope in Sheol, a sort of place of purification, where the spirit goes for one year, and then awaits the final resurrection. North American liberal Jews tend not to believe in an afterlife at all. However, the orthodox Hassidic Jews wholeheartedly believe in reincarnation for those who could not complete their life purpose in one lifetime.

          Zoroastrians believe that souls stay around the body for three days after death. On the fourth day, the soul crosses a bridge. Those of us who have been good, are met by a beautiful maiden who guides us to heaven. If we're bad, an ugly maiden guides us to the other place. The Zoroastrians, originating in ancient Persia, are the oldest monotheism and their versions of heaven and hell heavily influenced Christianity and Islam.

          Baha' is believe that the soul lives on in an expansive light and continues to grow and be closer and closer to God. Death is an enlargement of growth and transformation.

          Hindus and Buddhists believe that the soul perfects itself by reincarnation (or multiple lifetimes) until we get it right and then the soul, the Atman, merges with Brahman (or Nirvana for Buddhists).

          The most surprising belief for me is that of Native Americans. Many tribes believe that spirit helpers meet people who die and review with them whether they have used their gifts responsibly and listened to spirit helpers in their lifetime. After consideration, a person might experience a period of shame and remorse for purification and then travel southwest and go down with the setting sun to join the Great Spirit. (Harpur, 247-305)

          We know well that Christianity believes in both heaven and hell. Plus, Catholics believe in purgatory, a place of purification. However, many liberal Protestants believe metaphorically in heaven and hell as a state of mind, as do many Unitarian Universalists.

          Unitarian Universalists hold diverse beliefs regarding an afterlife. Like all things regarding faith, we are encouraged to decide for ourselves what is true for us. Generally, however, we are like other liberal Protestants who tend to believe heaven and hell are states of mind. Some believe in consciousness continuing after death. Some believe in reincarnation. Some believe life ends at death or that belief is not as important because actions in life are all that matter. (www.beliefnet.com)

          You might have heard the story that Unitarian Universalists tell of the three men who were discussing what they'd like to hear at their funeral service. One man said, "I'd like them to say, 'He was a fine doctor and an outstanding member of the community.'" Another said, "I'd like them to say, 'He was a good husband and father and teacher who made a difference.'" The third one said, "I'd like them to say, 'Look, he's moving!!!'"

          We UUs tend to like proof for our beliefs. The only thing that comes close to proof of life after death are the reports of those people who have had what we now call near death experience (or NDE). These are people who have "died" for a time and report experiencing themselves standing apart from their body, often while having surgery. These people report seeing a tunnel of light to which they feel drawn. They often meet a wise person who talks to them about their life and its purpose. There are thousands of such stories that are similar across cultures. The reports "…confirm basic values common to most of the world's religions. They say collectively that the purpose of life, is love. . .caring for others, compassion…. [and] causing no harm to others….." (Grossman, article p.34) And most people report a transformation in their attitude and thinking when they recover. The Institute of Noetic Sciences has a database of thousands of these stories. I find them are quite compelling.

          We UUs may speculate humorously on life after death until someone close to us becomes seriously ill and dies when we might then open ourselves to other views or at least to the view of the dying person. One of my friends talked extensively to me about his partner who had died two years ago and about whom he was still deeply grieved. I knew my friend had no belief in an afterlife. I asked him, "When David was dying, did you talk to him about how he felt about death?"

          He said, "Yes, someone who visited him told him that when we die we meet someone in a boat who rows us to the other side. I think that is true. I think I'll soon be going on that boat!" Like most Unitarian Universalists, my friend just accepted what his dying partner held to be true.

          We Unitarian Universalists are diverse in our beliefs about God, divinity, life, death and all things to do with faith. But we are also called to be respectful of the beliefs of others. I hope we always make room for one another's beliefs about death, particularly when our friends are dealing with their own death. None of us has an edge on the truth, even though there are those in society who are sure that they have it. It is of these people who are so sure they have the truth about which I would now like to say a few words.

          In these unsettling times following 9/11, 2001, the evangelical churches of America have been growing their already substantial ranks. Their teaching includes belief that God has a plan that we are all enacting and the plan is specified in the biblical Book of Revelation prophecy about the end of the world when Jesus will take up all righteous believers to spend the rest of eternity with him. This event is called The Rapture of the Church and the beliefs are called End Times Theology.

          A series of End Time books have been published telling the story of the beginning and the end of the End Times and throughout the book lays out the theology of salvation. The authors are Dr. Tim LaHaye, a theologian specializing in end time theology and a novelist, Jerry Jenkins. They joined their talents together and published the first book in 1995 called Left Behind: a Novel of the Earth's Last Days. It sold over 7 million copies and was on the N.Y. Times Best Seller's list for many months. (Time, July 1, 2002) After September 11, 2001, sales of the series soared.

          Left Behind begins with an airline pilot called Rayford Steele who is flying a 747 from Chicago to London. He is thinking about the beautiful flight attendant, Hattie Durham, who he'd like to get to know better. He regrets that his wife has become so obsessed with the new church she and their son had joined and talked only of Bible teachings. He felt justified in being driven into the arms of another woman. He left the cockpit and went in search of Hattie's lovely face. He almost bumped into Hattie who was in a panic. She told him that many people on the plane had disappeared, including all the children under 12 years, but their clothes and jewelry were on their seats. Reports on the airplane's radio revealed that people had disappeared all over the western world. He discovers that the disappeared are the "good" ones, including his own wife and son. Chaos reigns since many of the disappeared were driving cars, buses, and planes.

          The hero of the story decides that he wants to find out the truth. "He wanted to believe something that tied everything together and made it make sense." (Time, p. 50) Rayford makes his way to the church his wife had belonged to and discovers the truth that explains everything. The task of those who are left behind is to fight the battle between good and evil and against the Anti-Christ and thus save themselves and hopefully join those who were already in Heaven. It's an exciting but predictable book and I can see why people want to read the whole series. Many people want to be assured of an afterlife.

          Now, our diverse beliefs about the afterlife might not allow us to write best selling novels about the end of the world, but we might write about the end of the earth due to environmental pollution! However, our beliefs may encourage us to savor the present moment in this life. As this morning's reading says, "Our age calls us to integrate a vast number of worldviews and cultures into a new synthesis that can usher in a whole new era of human civilization. . . Living our daily lives in harmony with values that unite us with one another rather than divide us from one another---like those embodied in our Unitarian Universalist principles---brings us [peace] . . . ." Our beliefs will encourage us to fully savor the present moment for although we know that death is part of life, until then, we fully believe in life and in the strength of the loving community.

          We cannot know what lies beyond this life, but we can live fully in the present moment and have faith that the mystery will unfold itself in the fullness of time.

References

LaHaye, Tim and Jenkins, Jerry B. Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 1995.

Gerzon, Robert. "Sacred Anxiety," from UUWorld, March.April, 2002, The Magazine of the Unitarian Universalist Association, Vol XVI No. 2.

Grossman, Neal. "Who's Afraid of Life After Death?" from IONS, Noetic Sciences Review, September-November, 2002, Number 61.

Harpur, Tom. Life After Death, Toronto, Ontario: McClelland & Stewart Inc., 1991.

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/wat/archive/wat042400/html

www.beliefnet.com/story/80/story_8041_1.html

Reading: "Sacred Anxiety" by Robert Gerzon from UU World, March/April 2002

          We are in the midst of a wrenching and traumatic disintegration of the regional cultures that have sustained humanity for millennia. [Today] there is no universal myth to believe in, no one true religion . . . Yet amid the bewildering confusion of belief systems lies the riches of an entire planet's knowledge. Our age calls us to integrate the vast number of worldviews and cultures into a new synthesis that can usher in a whole new era of human civilization. This invitation can feel overwhelming, yet it is also tremendously exciting.

          Living our daily lives in harmony with values that unite us with one another rather than divide us from one another---like those embodied in our Unitarian Universalist principles---brings us [peace] . . . .

          From the Buddha to Moses to Jesus to Muhammad, the world's spiritual teachers direct our attention to the paradise of the present moment.