Dr. Martha Reineke Engages with the Question: Do You Think Humans Would Be Religious If They Were Never Going to Die?

Do you think humans would be religious if they were never going to die?

Dr. Martha Reineke discusses her solution by giving both a yes and no answer to this question. First she suggests that humans would be religious if they were immortal because the objective of religion is much more complicated than simply addressing what occurs after death. To prove this point, Dr. Reineke tells a story of a three Chinese women on pilgrimage and how their prayers focus on day to day obstacles and not the larger questions of an afterlife.