THE MYTH OF AN AFTERLIFE

I've been subscribing on and off to Free Inquiry for several years.  However, I never get much of a chance to read it, the issues piled up and, because I had for the first time in a long time read all the Time, National Geographic, Scientific American, and a few other mags, just happened to pick up a 2015 issue of FI headlined as The Myth of an Afterlife.

This bimonthly treats:

Common themes such as separation of church and state, science and religion, dissemination of freethought, and applied philosophy. Regular contributors include well-known scholars in the fields of science and philosophy.

For the next few Sundays I'll feature articles from this publication.  First, a contribution by the editor, Tom Flynn, the Introduction to The Myth of an Afterlife:

• He went to Amazon.com Books Department to search for the keyword afterlife, and found 9,209 results.  
• The first page yielded only books about the afterlife.  There was not one skeptical view.  Most of them cried out aloud, Yes, there is life after Death.  
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  Finally at the bottom of the 9th page, The Myth of the Afterlife:  The Case Against Life after Death, which was published in 2015.  One of the co-authors, Michael Martin, unexpectedly died during production.  Brings to mind the Nietzsche vs God exchange.  There is a tribute to him, including an essay in this issue of FI:  Problems with Heaven.  
• I went to Amazon.com and found out that the Kindle version sold for $82, while the hardcover went for $93.  In 2015 they were both $85.  Expensive, but it does go on for 708 pages.

Such is the nature of the afterlife.  People hope there is one, and buy books to support their belief.  The field needs a cheap bestseller that can compellingly lay out the case for no afterlife, no Heaven.  But that sentence is a non sequitur, for how possibly could a skeptical publication about this subject actually sell well?  People don't want to know more about this reality.  Life is tough enough with the potential for salvation.

Finally, here is an interesting table from the Pew Research Center showing belief in Heaven and Hell by Americans of different faiths. 

• In short, 72% of people living in the USA believe in Heaven.
• Counting only those affiliated with a religion, 82%.
• Belief in Heaven jumps to 
• 93% for Black Christians 
• 95% for Mormons.
• But 
• Jewish  40%
• Buddhist  47%
• Atheist  5%
• No religion category has more Hell believers than Heaven.

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