Virtually all organized religions put heavy emphasis on life after death. This is because religion’s main appeal, most especially to those in environments with high death rates, is the promise of eventual safety and peace in eternity.
Problem is, most of those religions immediately become tools of manipulation where you have to follow a very specific set of rules to get to paradise, or spend eternity suffering in Hell like you’ve never experienced before.
You’re correct about Abrahamic religions but ancient polytheistic/pagan religions and current day Eastern and Dharmic religions often do not discuss life after death. Many do not believe there is only one life but instead there are multiple cycles through which a soul can exist. There is a concept of Nirvana/Enlightenment, which one could say is a type of heaven, but hell is essentially reliving life on Earth with progressively more hardship and struggle if you choose to live poorly.
Now Abrahamic religions do have the most followers, partly because monotheism is highly compatible with centralization and authoritarianism. It enforces conformity which makes it very effective at organizing people. Polytheistic or nontheistic religions (often Eastern) need to be much more flexible. Centralization has been a point of contention within even monotheistic religions with the Protestant split from the Catholic church for example.
Religion has more to it then a population control though. It does give people a sense of meaning and there have always been infights to challenge the power of the priestly class who act as gatekeepers to spiritual meaning and purpose.
Our ancestors had a mind tailored for survival. Religion exploits this.
Virtually all organized religions put heavy emphasis on life after death. This is because religion’s main appeal, most especially to those in environments with high death rates, is the promise of eventual safety and peace in eternity.
Problem is, most of those religions immediately become tools of manipulation where you have to follow a very specific set of rules to get to paradise, or spend eternity suffering in Hell like you’ve never experienced before.
It’s also a tool of control, in that people who are being made to live painful, miserable lives, are told that they can live for eternity in paradise.
You’re correct about Abrahamic religions but ancient polytheistic/pagan religions and current day Eastern and Dharmic religions often do not discuss life after death. Many do not believe there is only one life but instead there are multiple cycles through which a soul can exist. There is a concept of Nirvana/Enlightenment, which one could say is a type of heaven, but hell is essentially reliving life on Earth with progressively more hardship and struggle if you choose to live poorly.
Now Abrahamic religions do have the most followers, partly because monotheism is highly compatible with centralization and authoritarianism. It enforces conformity which makes it very effective at organizing people. Polytheistic or nontheistic religions (often Eastern) need to be much more flexible. Centralization has been a point of contention within even monotheistic religions with the Protestant split from the Catholic church for example.
Religion has more to it then a population control though. It does give people a sense of meaning and there have always been infights to challenge the power of the priestly class who act as gatekeepers to spiritual meaning and purpose.