Year 11 - Religious education
Views on the afterlife
Memory: what happens to us and our memories when we die?
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit invites pupils to consider religious and non-religious responses to death. They will examine differing views. They will consider how the dead may be remembered through ritual or legacy. They will consider how attitudes are changing and the possibilities technology may offer in the future.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explain different religious and non-religious beliefs about what may happen when we die.
Key Notes
- What happens to us after death is a long pondered question of ultimate reality.
- For Humanists, there is only this life and no part of us exists beyond death.
- Abrahamic religions teach that there will be judgement, followed by an afterlife.
- Dharmic faiths describe a cycle of life, death and rebirth called reincarnation.
- Some non religious people believe in life after death.
Vocabulary To Learn
- afterlife: what follows the physical life on Earth; life after death
- judgement: the belief that God will decide whether each person should receive eternal life or eternal punishment
- reincarnation: the rebirth of a soul in another body
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- All non-religious people believe there is no afterlife and that death is the absolute end.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
What happens to us after death is a long pondered question of ultimate reality. For Humanists, there is only this life and no part of us exists beyond death.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'afterlife'
what follows the physical life on Earth; life after death.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: All non-religious people believe there is no afterlife and that death is the absolute end. Correction: Many non-religious individuals believe in a form of an afterlife, but without a soul moving to a spiritual realm.
More Lessons In This Unit
Browse all guides in the Year 11 Religious education guide library.