What happens after death?

What happens when an Athiest dies?
by Helen Phillips, NSW Australia
Librarian / philosopher, Aged 40

Having grown up in an Athiest house there was no talk of life after death and I don't ever remember talking to my parents about death. Death has always been a remote experience for me as nobody close has died until this year. My father died in July 2002 after a short illness from cancer. We discussed death and dying and I asked him now that he was in his late 70's whether he had changed his opinions in relation to religion and if he thought he might 'meet his maker' so to speak. No, he told me that he wanted to be mulched and fed to his tomato plants. Unfortunately that was illegal and my brother who organised the funeral had a very staid affair that I feel didn't really celebrate my father or his passions. Regardless of his lack of religion my father was a good and honest man. His memory makes him an immortal.

I prefer the story of the River Styx and meeting Charon for the final journey. Heaven and Hell are not a part of my cosmos and I don't believe that being 'good' will get you a seat on the right hand side of any God, imaginary or not. Just bury me with my change purse and I'll pay my own way as in life.

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