death and religion

Religious concepts and practices in relation to death and dying. It would be hard to imagine a religion truly indifferent to death, the end of an individual human life as we knew it in this world. That is because religion tries to look at life from the largest possible perspective, in the light of that which is ultimate. It is death that forces people to look at their own lives in that way. Knowing that one has only so much time in this world means one must make choices and must choose the values on which to base those choices. Knowing that many religions say there is more to life than just the present short span on Earth, one wants to know what the rest of it is and how it relates to here and now. In regard to the event of death, religion tends to provide two things. First, it usually teaches about what happens after death, often including in that teaching accounts of an after-death judgment or rebirth, which will refl ect on the choices one has made in life (see AFTERLIFE IN WORLD RELIGIONS). Second, religions surround the experience of death itself with rites and attitudes designating it as a great experience of transition. The deathpractices of various religions say much about their deepest values. Devout Hindus, for example, want to die on the banks of the sacred river, the GANGES, particularly in the holy city of BANARAS. If that is not possible, they wish at least for their remains to be brought there to be cremated, and the ashes thrown into the sacred river. The funeral pyre should ideally be lit by the deceased's eldest son. These practices teach us several things: that death is a time for returning to one's spiritual roots and the main symbols of one's FAITH; that the physical body is not important after death and can be reverently returned to the elements from which it came: fi re, water, earth, and air; that death is a time of transition in this world too, from father to son, when the social order rent by death must be symbolically restored. The same themes of individual transition, signifi cant dispersal of the remains, and family and community healing occur in most traditions, though the particulars may vary greatly. In TIBETAN RELIGION the words of the BARDO THODOL, or "Tibetan Book of the Dead," may be whispered in the ear of the dying person as a kind of guide telling what will be encountered—the Clear Light, the BUDDHAS of the MANDALA—and how to respond to them in order to gain liberation or a good rebirth. The physical remains may be just cut up and left in a fi eld for carnivorous birds to consume to show their unimportance. But memorial services to help the deceased through the transition and bring the family together continue afterward. In JUDAISM, the dominant theme is the importance of each individual to the community and the preciousness of each human life. When death approaches, the dying person might recite a PRAYER confessing SINS and asking GOD for forgiveness and a place in his realm after death—the individual transition. After death, a group of volunteers from the community might care for the body, watching over it, washing it, dressing it for burial. Immediate relatives observe deep mourning until seven days after the funeral, traditionally staying at one place such as the home of the deceased during this time. A meal is given them by others in the Jewish community after the return from the cemetery. All this clearly helps with working through grief and reestablishing family and society bonds after the loss. In ISLAM, death is also often preceded by an affi rmation of faith. After death, the body is washed, shrouded, and buried facing MECCA in imitation of the posture of prayer—the symbolic reaffi rmation of religious roots. Funeral and memorial services follow, centering on recitations of parts of the QUR'AN while the family receives condolences— affi rmation of faith and reaffi rmation of family and community ties. Christian practices vary among traditions but repeat the same themes. Prayer is properly said with the dying person. In Catholic traditions these include confession of sins, absolution or forgiveness of them pronounced by a priest, fi nal holy communion, and holy unction or anointing with oil—the "last rites." These mark the individual transition and preparation for judgment after death. On this side the family gathers for the funeral, sometimes added to by a "wake" or friends sitting up with the body in the home, and a meal given the mourning family by relatives or the church community. The body is returned to the earth by burial, or nowadays often cremated. Death is dealt with in more intimate and personal ways in religious writings. Some speak of a "good death" as something to prepare for during all of one's life. Sometimes it is seen as a time to be particularly close to the holy fi gures of one's faith, the SAINTS and ANGELS and others. Popular religious art may show a deathbed surrounded by angels, and the "Hail Mary" of Catholic piety asks MARY, the Mother of God, as though she were our mother too, to "pray for us now and at the hour of our death." Death is a precarious time, and yet may be a welcome time, a time of judgment and of release, of the loss of loved ones here and the gaining of loved ones on the other side. Sometimes it is also presented as a great adventure, a time for growth and learning of things now hidden. Above all, religions present death as a time for meeting face to face with God or an ultimate reality, in love and fulfi llment. The process of death, dying, and grieving has interested many writers and readers in the second half of the 20th century.