"Is there life after death.. for an Atheist?" (freethoughtvlog #20)

It is autumn. The season that one thinks of death. Religions try to soften the fear of death by promising an afterlife. But what heaven waits for an atheist? Most of the secular, atheist or freethinkers -like the 17th century Spinoza- are not willing to offer any poetic comfort for the dying. "There is no life after death" In this freethoughtvlog Boris van der Ham tries to find some poetic relieve for the dying in science. Conclusion: also atheists live forever, and heaven tastes like raspberries!

Since 2010 Dutch MP Van der Ham has a weekly 'freethinking video blog' (vrijzinnige lezing) in Dutch on YouTube. Every month he does one in english. He reads from an inspiring work of freethinkers from present and past.

For future english versions you can follow Freethoughtvlog on twitter: @freethoughtvlog and at freethoughvlog.com

------
Herfst, het vallen van de blaadjes, doet denken aan de dood. De gedachte aan de dood doet mensen vaak huiveren. Religies proberen de angst voor de dood te verzachten door een leven na de dood te beloven. Maar welke hemel wacht een atheïst? Seculiere, atheïstsche of andere vrije denkers -zoals de 17e eeuw Spinoza- lijken niet bereid om enig verzachting te bieden. "Nee, er is geen leven na de dood!" In deze 20ste vrijzinnige lezing zoekt Boris van der Ham wat poëtisch comfort voor de stervenden in de wetenschap. Conclusie: ook atheïsten hebben eeuwig leven, en de hemel smaakt naar frambozen!

Voor de tweede keer een engelse versie van de Vrijzinnige lezing! Sinds 1 januari 2010 publiceert Van der Ham wekelijks 'vrijzinnige lezingen' op o.a. vrijzinnig.com, www.joop.nl en youtube. Met de videoblogs wil hij de geschiedenis schetsen van het vrije denken. Wat zeggen oude teksten over de vraagstukken over onze tijd, en kunnen ze verdieping geven aan onze vrije samenleving?

technische hulp: Sanne van Oosten en Dirk Minnebo

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• freethoughtvlog
• vrijzinnige
• schriftlezing
• vrije
• lezing
• vrijzinnig
• boris
• van
• der
• ham
• spinoza
• freedom
• vrijheid
• liberalisme
• atheisme
• atheist
• death
• afterlife
• life
• after
• heaven
• science
• d66
• secular
• netherlands
• autumn
• leaves
• taboo
• hemel
• perspective
• suffer
• pain
• last
• breath
• poetic
• comfort
• philosophy
• raspberries
• shakespeare
• humor
• analysis
• inspirational
• video
• log
• vlog
• religion
• humanism
• spirituality
• christianity
• freethouht

[Jordan71495]

Raspberries wow

[Borisvdham]

@Jordan71495 raspberries, lovely

[ronin6767]

Unfortunately, truth isn't very comforting at any time.

[Borisvdham]

@ronin6767 wel, sometime we can ease it a bit

[colorblindvids]

Ahh! I love this vlog, but theres only a couple episodes! Do more in English please!

[Borisvdham]

@colorblindvids every month i do one in english

[imigrant00]

@ronin6767

It comforts me to know that we are made of star stuff and that science has finally reached a point where it can proceed forward without religious interference. Perhaps soon we will be able to not only live very much longer than we currently do, but we will colonize space and free ourselves from dependence on the earth. That's comforting to me, even though those things may happen after my life is over, but I'm 27 now, so we'll see. =)

[patrick10001]

On earth nothing will die :)!

[Enzo012]

We don't actually know whether there is an afterlife or not it depends if consciousness can exist outside of a physical brain. Either way it would be kind of odd.

[HomleandSecurity]

I'm waiting for this guy to give the Heil Hitler. Hitler was an atheist and believed in evolution. That says a lot about people who are atheists and/or believe in evolution.

[Borisvdham]

@sngcoach Well, the guy you are talking about is not even a member of the party anymore. And D66 has been very strong in the plea to stop this kinds of deals for people (working in the Higher Education Service) who are payed with tax-payers money. So I think we don't disagree what should be done with taxpayers money.

[Piitsi]

The big elephant in the room/the question, is that are we victims of the world, who have to muster their strength to face the gloom of death, or are we the process of the world and life itself? I guess it is the matter of perspective, but I tend to agree with the latter view. I view life after death to be a lot like life before birth. I will be the potential from which life arises if it chooses to do so. :)

"We are a way for the cosmos to know itself" - Carl Sagan

[manz900]

Really though Religion offers no evidence for a existence after death and science has not found the evidence yet so really no one really knows. I believe that would it not be more reasonable to put are trust in science when it comes to a existence after death?? Does anyone agree with me that we should let science figure that out?

[Augments]

Funny thing, i was drinking a Mountain Dew: Code Red which has Raspberry flavour while i was watching this.

[otherworldtrader1]

if yuo have been dead before being born than yuo'll be dead forever after death

[Aeschylus]

Ik hou van Uw Engels accent! Mijn vrouw komt uit Den Haag maar ik kan geen Nederlands accent doen. Frans, Duits en Iers, maar niet de Nederlandse.