Write your name on a post it note

Write your name on a post it note and stick it in the section of the board you most agree with At death your soul leaves your physical body and goes to another place When you die your body is resurrected and goes to another place At death, your soul is reincarnated Death is the end, when you die you into another body no longer exist as a person

What do atheists believe about life after death? Aim: to consider what atheists can believe about life after death. Goal: to evaluate these views about life after death.

To start. . . Jot down brief answers to the following questions: 1) How do you know who you are? 2) How do other people recognise you as you? 3) Are you: (a) your body? (b) your soul? (c) something else?

Discussion questions • What do you think atheists would say about the idea of a soul? • Can you be an atheist and believe that there is life after death? • What would life after death have to be like for an atheist?

Beliefs about life after death

• Many scientists and atheists argue that humans are made up of just a physical body, there is no spiritual soul. • Therefore, when the body dies, the person no longer exists. ‘There is no spirit-driven life force, no throbbing, heaving, pullulating, protoplasmic, mystic jelly. Life is just bytes and bytes of digital information. ’ - Richard Dawkins-

Task Read through the information sheet you have been given about what Dawkins believes about life after death. Using the thinking hat you have been given, consider his theory about life after death from that point of view. Be ready to feedback to the class.

You live on through your genes. . . Richard Dawkins argues that a person does not go to a new place after death. There is no afterlife for an individual. However, people live on through the genes that they have passed on to their children. For example, a parent will live on after their death through the genes they have passed on to their son and/or daughter, then on through the genes they will pass on to their children (their grandchildren).

You live on through your memes. . . Most people believe that individuals can live on after death through the memories that people left behind will have of the person. It is often comforting when someone has died to remember good qualities about the person and special events that were shared with them. Other people say that individuals might leave behind a legacy, an impact that they have made that inspired other people. For example, Martin Luther King lives on through all the people who fight for equality in the world. Dawkins calls these legacies ‘memes’.

PLENARY How does being an atheist influence your beliefs about life after death?