Haitian After Life Belief - Haiti Observer Blog

In Haiti, religion is professed by almost all Haitians.

Religious demographics in Haiti are distributed as follows in the Haitian population: Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3%.

Haitian Catholics, Baptists, Protestants and other Christians accept as true the existence of heaven, hell and purgatory; that the fate of the departed depends on how he lived his life on Earth. They believe in the teaching of the Catholic Church's teachings which holds that people who led a good life tend to go to Heaven, where they will be with God, angels, departed relatives, and fellow believers.

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There have been studies showing how and why after life beliefs occur in a person's life.

These studies about After life Beliefs were done by a group of experimental social psychology PhD students, including Nathan Heflick, Joshua Hart of Union College and Jamie Goldberg of the University of South Florida. Conducting four studies allowed the researchers to determine the relationship between salient death and afterlife belief.

According to Heflick, afterlife belief often occurs when a person believes and perceives that a part of himself such as the soul can be independent from the physical body. Given this reasoning, it is possible to affect one's afterlife belief if the physical body is primed. Heflick and his group also concluded that with death salience comes a stronger desire to believe that there is life after death. However, this does not mean that a person facing a salient death actually believes in the afterlife. He only has an increased desire to believe in it.

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Christianity has various beliefs when it comes to life after death but one thing followers have in common is that they believe in the afterlife.

Catholics, Baptists, Protestants and other Christians have been taught differently about afterlife beliefs. However, the existence of heaven, hell and purgatory are very common.

Many Christians believe that the fate of the departed depends on how he lived his life on Earth. According to the Catholic Church's teachings, people who led a good life tend to go to Heaven, where they will be with God, angels, departed relatives, and fellow believers. Those who did bad things on Earth and did not repent them are expected to get punished in Hell. Bad people who hurt others while they were alive suffer from hellfire for eternity. Another Catholic belief is the existence of purgatory, which is located in the middle of Heaven and Hell. This is where people who failed to confess their sins usually go to. Some believe that spirits that were sent there can move on to Heaven in time.

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Voodoo followers believe in afterlife. Voodoo Religion believes that even after death, a person's soul remains around until it is reborn.

Voodoo is a religion that started in Haiti more than 280 years ago. It is actually practiced in other African regions and countries such as Jamaica and Santo Domingo and is associated with the traditional religions in Africa and the Caribbean. Voodoo followers believe in a supreme being called Gran Met, who is known for creating the world. However, followers often worship and serve the loas, or the pantheon of divinities, because Gran Met is believed to be too far away to answer their calls.

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Do you believe in life after death?

Is there a possibility that a person's soul remains alive even if death consumed the body? Is there a way for the living to help the departed find their way to their new world? These are only some of the questions that people ask when it comes to afterlife beliefs and American Indian culture is only one of the many that holds some answers.

American Indian cultures greatly touch on after life belief. According to such culture and tradition, a person bears two souls. One of them is "free," meaning that it can be independent from the actual body and can live even after death. The other, which is referred to as the vital soul, is the one that helps the body breathes and moves. This particular soul could never survive death. Therefore, it is lost when a person dies. When it comes to Native American cultures, the world of the dead is described differently. Some say it is like a "happy hunting ground," while others liken it to the gloomy and dark world of Hades.

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