A Comparative Analysis of Afterlife Beliefs in Catholicism and Daoism

This essay provides a comparative analysis of the afterlife beliefs in Catholicism and Daoism, two distinct world religions. The essay begins by introducing the concept of afterlife and its significance in different religious traditions. It then delves into the specific beliefs of Catholicism, emphasizing the faith in God, the concept of original sin, and the promise of eternal life in heaven. The essay also explores the views of Daoism, which, unlike Catholicism, does not have a supreme deity. Daoism's beliefs about the body, spirits, and the potential for contacting the deceased through meditation are discussed. The core of the essay then evaluates and contrasts these beliefs, highlighting the fundamental differences in their understanding of God, the soul, and the afterlife. The essay references several scholarly articles to support its claims, including works exploring the psychological aspects of afterlife beliefs and the cultural interpretations of Daoism. The conclusion summarizes the differences and similarities, reinforcing the diverse perspectives on life after death within these two religious traditions.

Running head: WORLD RELIGION
World Religion
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Discussion........................................................................................................................................1
Identification of Relevant Beliefs among Catholicism and Daoism...........................................1
Evaluation....................................................................................................................................2
Annotated Bibliography...............................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Religion traditions around the world offer with different believes and the purpose of life
and also include differences in the ethical analysis for a situation in which people belonging to
these religion find themselves. Afterlife is one such concept that has received different opinions
from various religion group. It refers to the concept that is an essential part of the individual’s
life and continues to manifest even after death. Some religion view this concept as a spiritual
realm, while others views that the individual are reborn into the world after leaving one life.
Such differences in views on afterlife also differs among eastern and western religion (Hui et al.,
2015). Two such religion that has different views are Catholicism and Daoism.
The paper analyses the differences in beliefs among Catholicism and Daoism and
evaluating those beliefs. Further, the paper analyzed past literature on the topic to view the
differences in view among Catholicism and Daoism.
Discussion
Identification of Relevant Beliefs among Catholicism and Daoism
Catholicism is a religion that considered as Christians and holds their belief on Jesus
Christ. They are sole believer on god as they think that god is the creator of everything and holds
their life. One of the most known belief of Catholics is that Adam and Eve were the one that
disobeyed god and this is the reason all humans are born with original sin. Further, grace is a gift
from god which is considered as one of the happier belief of Catholics. Christians also holds
different knowledge and understanding about death (Strange, 1986). They believe that in the
creation of God, human beings are created for eternal life with him. However, due to the sins of
our first parents that is Adams and Eve, human being has been cursed and thus they experience

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suffering and death. Moreover, according to Bible, death is a frightening mystery that one needs
to face. However, for the Christians that are longing to be in peace and trust, they wait to be with
Lord in his home. It has been clearly mentioned in the Bible that the one that has faith in God
and freely choose to accept the salvation he offers will directly enter heaven (Hui et al., 2015).
According to Catholics these are the words of Lord Jesus.
The other religious belief is seen in Daoism which is often known as Taoism. Daoism,
unlike Catholics do not have any God. According to them there is no omnipotent being that
controls and created the universe. They believe that universe has come from Tao, however, Tao
itself is not any God not they worship it. It has been seen that Daoism has adopted the god of
other cultures. In addition to this, Daoism believes that the body itself is filled with spirits and
monsters. Thus, there are certain rituals that are performed so that the spirits are able to guide the
body. Thus, once the spirit leaves the body, then the body becomes week and dies (Maspero,
1981). However, for them life is eternal and one can also be contacted after death through
meditation by the alchemist.
Evaluation
From the above findings on the basic beliefs and religion values of Catholics and
Daoism, it is seen that both the religion has different views and beliefs on different aspects of life
and opinions for God. Both the religion are totally opposite to each other when it is about
trusting God. It has been found that Christians and Catholics has full faith in God and for them
God is the supreme power. Further, they belief that death is inseparable and cannot be avoided
due to the sin of the original first parents. They believe that life can be eternal and it only ends
because of the curse given our first parents. On the other hand, Daoism does not believe in God
as for them there is no supreme power. They do not believe that there is any omnipotent being

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that has created the universe. Further, for them human being are supported by spirits and once
the spirit leaves the body a person dies.
Annotated Bibliography
Ai, A. L., Kastenmüller, A., Tice, T. N., Wink, P., Dillon, M., & Frey, D. (2014). The
Connection of Soul (COS) scale: An assessment tool for afterlife perspectives in different
worldviews. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(4), 316.
According to Ai et al., (2014) Daoism believes on a universal law which according to them
governs the nature. This is termed as Duo and every human is related to them. According to
Daoism life is immortal and thus they do not fear of death. Further, they believe that there are
living spirits after death and the spirit never dies. The paper found different perspective about
afterlife which focused that the life of the souls does not ends and there is life after death. This
was put forward by two perspectives such as literal immortality and secular perspective.
Yew, A. K., Chan, Y. M., & Cheng, T. K. (2017, May). Exploring afterlife interpreted
through dance and multimedia. In Information and Communication Technology (ICoIC7),
2017 5th International Conference on (pp. 1-5). IEEE.
Yew, han & Cheng (2017) in the paper has designed and developed the belief on afterlife as
interpreted by the Chinese Taoism or Daoism. According to Daoism teaching, the soul of a dead
person goes to heaven only if they have collected enough good karma in their entire life on earth
throughout the lifetime. However, the soul is punished if the karma is good and is sent to the
eighteen levels of hell. Thus, the findings of the paper show that the Taoists belief in life after
death with the help of digital media. They do believe that there is life after death when the spirits
are guided according to their deeds.

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De Cruz, H., & De Smedt, J. (2017). How psychological dispositions influence the theology
of the afterlife. In The Palgrave Handbook of the Afterlife (pp. 435-453). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
De Cruz & De Smedt (2017) has shared the views of people across cultures on what happens
after death, including the reincarnations beliefs on afterlife. Christians view the beautiful afterlife
in the risk park like environment like heaven and horrible place of hell. However, it is evident
from the findings that Bible does tell about the bodily resurrection and a final judgment of
everyone, they fail to offer great details on it as to the ways it take place.
McClain-Jacobson, C., Rosenfeld, B., Kosinski, A., Pessin, H., Cimino, J. E., & Breitbart,
W. (2004). Belief in an afterlife, spiritual well-being and end-of-life despair in patients with
advanced cancer. General hospital psychiatry, 26(6), 484-486.
Study by McClain-Jacobson et al., (2004) has presented the investigation on afterlife beliefs,
spiritual wellbeing and psychological functioning as a person move towards the end of their life.
From the study conducted on different religion it was found that half of them identified
themselves as Catholic. The paper showed that Catholics do belief in life after death compared to
Protestants.
Inglis, T. (2007). Catholic identity in contemporary Ireland: Belief and belonging to
tradition. Journal of contemporary religion, 22(2), 205-220.
In the paper by Inglis (2007), it is seen that Catholics in various countries has a high level
orthodox belief in God, life after death and sins. However, it was seen that they have less belief
in heaven and hell. Among all the participants that took part on the research portrayed that 17

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percent of them did not belief in life after death and 44 per cent did not believe in hell. Thus, it
was seen that there are certain Christians that still do not believe in after life.
Hui, C. H., Lau, E. Y., Lam, J., Cheung, S. F., & Lau, W. W. (2015). Psychological
predictors of Chinese Christians’ church attendance and religious steadfastness: A three-
wave prospective study. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(3), 250.
Hui et al., (2015) in the paper showed that unlike Taoism, Christianity and Catholicism is very
social. It was seen that for a change Protestants believed in life after death and also attended
church frequently. Thus, it was seen that along with Catholics, Protestants also has certain belief
in afterlife.
Conclusion
From the above analysis it is seen that there is not only differences of thoughts on
afterlife concepts between Daoism and Catholic, there are also different views within the same
religion. However, both the religion on different sphere did believe that there is life after death.
Daoism believed more as according to them spirits do not die and they are eternal. Both the
religion believed that a person has to go to hell or heaven according to the sins they have done
when they were alive. Even if their beliefs on God and on other sphere varies, they are on similar
grounds about afterlife views.

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References
Ai, A. L., Kastenmüller, A., Tice, T. N., Wink, P., Dillon, M., & Frey, D. (2014). The
Connection of Soul (COS) scale: An assessment tool for afterlife perspectives in different
worldviews. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(4), 316.
De Cruz, H., & De Smedt, J. (2017). How psychological dispositions influence the theology of
the afterlife. In The Palgrave Handbook of the Afterlife (pp. 435-453). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
McClain-Jacobson, C., Rosenfeld, B., Kosinski, A., Pessin, H., Cimino, J. E., & Breitbart, W.
(2004). Belief in an afterlife, spiritual well-being and end-of-life despair in patients with
advanced cancer. General hospital psychiatry, 26(6), 484-486.
Inglis, T. (2007). Catholic identity in contemporary Ireland: Belief and belonging to
tradition. Journal of contemporary religion, 22(2), 205-220.
Hui, C. H., Lau, E. Y., Lam, J., Cheung, S. F., & Lau, W. W. (2015). Psychological predictors of
Chinese Christians’ church attendance and religious steadfastness: A three-wave
prospective study. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 7(3), 250.
Maspero, H. (1981). Taoism and Chinese religion (p. 259). Amherst: University of
Massachusetts Press.
Strange, R. (1986). The Catholic Faith. Oxford University Press.
Yew, A. K., Chan, Y. M., & Cheng, T. K. (2017, May). Exploring afterlife interpreted through
dance and multimedia. In Information and Communication Technology (ICoIC7), 2017
5th International Conference on (pp. 1-5). IEEE.