A growing number of Canadians are leaving religion behind. But when it comes to the afterlife, many still believe in it.
That’s the finding of a recent Cardus/Angus Reid survey, which found that about 60 per cent of Canadians believe in or think there is life after death. That’s down just a bit from the 1960s, when it was about 66 per cent.
Of that 60 per cent, only 28 per cent definitely believe there is an afterlife; 32 per cent are less certain. Meanwhile, 13 per cent are sure there is no life after death, while 27 per cent think it might exist.
While a majority of Christians believe in life after death, that belief varies in strength by group. For evangelicals, 74 per cent are certain about it, compared to 34 per cent of mainline Protestants and 24 per cent of Catholics.
For other faiths, 63 per cent of Muslims firmly believe in the afterlife, while 33 per cent of Hindus, 29 per cent of Sikhs and 20 per cent of Jews feel the same way.
Regionally, more Manitobans are convinced about life after death than anyone else in Canada; 72 per cent are sure or think it exists. This compares to 69 per cent in Saskatchewan who are sure or think so, 63 per cent in Alberta and Ontario, 60 per cent in B.C., 59 per cent in Atlantic Canada and 50 per cent in Quebec.
By gender, men 55-plus are the most likely to say there is no life after death (23 per cent) while 26 per cent are sure of it; only nine per cent of women in that age group don’t believe in it while 36 per cent are quite sure it exists. Of men 18-34, 30 per cent believe in it, compared to 23 per cent of women the same age.
For Ray Pennings, executive vice-president of Cardus, a conservative Christian think tank, belief in the afterlife has consequences for this life—personally and for society at large.
Not only does religion “provide us with a framework and categories for dealing with the realities of good and evil, justice and virtue, forgiveness and trust,” he said, but belief in eternity can cause people to act in ways that show they have that in mind.
If people believe they will be judged after death by what they did while alive, that could cause them to be more committed to things that are “good, true, beautiful and just” in this life, he explained.
Belief in an afterlife “matter for how . . . we live together in society,” he said.
Need to know more
Lori Beaman teaches at the University of Ottawa, is research chair for the Religious Diversity and Social Change project and director of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future project. What interests her about the poll is what Canadians mean when they say they believe in the afterlife—something the pollster did not ask.
Many people are “transitioning life after death away from religious belief systems to other kinds of afterlife ideas,” she said, adding this includes moving away from a belief in religious concepts of Heaven and Hell to seeing death as a transition to a different state of being.
“When people say they believe in life after death, we need to know more than yes or no,” Beaman said. “They may mean that bodies decompose and become a different kind of energy. This too is life after death, in their view.”
For Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, who teaches sociology and studies religion at the University of Waterloo, one thing that remains fascinating is how consistent belief in life after death has stayed in Canada over the years.
“Belief in life after death is one of the only survey belief indicators in Canada that has remained proportionally pretty stable over time and across generations since the 1960s,” she said.
She also wonders how the concept of the afterlife has changed over that time, as does Sam Reimer, who teaches sociology at Crandall University in New Brunswick.
“While belief in life after death is stable over time, what types of afterlife Canadians believe in is probably changing, particularly in the decline in the belief in Hell,” he said, noting changes are probably driven by the increase in non-Christian immigration, with their different understandings of the afterlife.
At the same time, he also finds it interesting that belief in the afterlife is stable even with declining religiosity in Canada. “Is this the one lasting belief for the minimally religious?” he asked.
All three scholars believe that question, and others, need more research.
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