The question of what happens after death is one which children have no difficulty grappling with, and on which they are generally keen to express views (possibly because of prior training or conversation with peers). Apart from raising the basis of beliefs, this subject also raises the concepts of eternity and infinity, and emphasises how orthodox opinion can change over the years, even in the absence of any reliable information.
Discussion about Hell seems to appeal to children. Many parents will have noted the ghoulish delight with which children study medieval art depicting the torments of the damned - for example the works of Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450-1516). Sixty years ago, a routine disciplinary technique was to tell children that if they were not good, they would go to the big burning fires when they died. It seems such threats were believed, and accepted with apparent equanimity.
Obviously, this section will not suit families with fixed religious views.
What do you think happens to people when they die?
Owen: Fire.
You mean fire and brimstone, that sort of thing?
Owen: No. I mean the funeral. I went to one once. The coffin went into a furnace. It was really sad.
So is that the end of you, when you die? What about the thinking part of a person? Does that just stop?
Charlotte: If you've been good, your spirit goes to heaven. My friend Mary told me. She goes to Sunday School.
What do you mean by "spirit"?
Charlotte: It's not solid. It's like a reflection.
What if you haven't been good?
Owen: You go to Hell. They put a spear through you and cook you on a fire. I've seen pictures in books.
Is that kind?
Owen: No. I don't believe it really.
What about Heaven? Do you believe in that?
Owen: Yes.
What do you think, Charlotte?
Charlotte: I think Heaven and Hell are both true.
What happens in Heaven? Are there animals there?
Charlotte: Yes. I wouldn't like it otherwise.
Well that may be so. But some people don't like animals. It may not have been designed especially to suit you.
Charlotte: Mary says everyone gets what they like there.
What about people who like hurting others or stealing things. Do they get what they like in heaven?
Charlotte: They are not there, silly.
Oh yes, I forgot. Good point. Actually, I've been thinking about what Heaven would be like. I think you probably have to be completely perfect to get in. Even saying a single swear word when you were a baby would be enough to prevent you going there.
Owen: That isn't fair. Babies don't know what they're doing.
Well I didn't make up the rules. But I think you have a point. It's probably OK to wet your pants up until about age 2½.
Anyway, I think Heaven is like a small concrete building with one room. It's very crowded. There are about 100 people there. There's a small barred window high up on one wall. On another wall, there's a crackly loudspeaker blaring out hymns.
Owen: Eh? That's Hell.
I don't know why you say that. As it turns out, we have a lot more information on what Hell is like than we have on what Heaven is like. A lot of philosophers have discussed it.
Hell is pretty bad. Thomas Aquinas said that the mildest torture in Hell was worse than the most severe pain on Earth. And it lasts forever. Imagine all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the world. Suppose for each grain you spent a year turning on a spit in hell with demons sticking things into you and offering you cool drinks just out of reach. When all the sand was used up, you would hardly have started your sentence. [This is loosely based on the account given in Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. For further material on this theme, see the end notes by Seamus Deane in the edition listed in the bibliography.]
Owen: What about the people who were nearly good enough to get into Heaven? Wouldn't they be allowed to finish their torture after a few years?
You've mentioned an important point, which was much discussed many years ago. The general consensus was that there was no end to the miseries of people condemned to hell, and that anyone who thought otherwise was guilty of heresy.
Anyway, getting back to what Heaven is like, the reason I think there is a window there, is so people in Heaven can look out and see Hell. The philosopher Tertullian wrote that one of the delights of the blessed in heaven, was to witness the accursed suffering eternal fire in hell.
Charlotte: That's mean!
Yes. But if Tertullian's right, that's the way it is.
Owen: Anyway, how would anyone know any of this stuff?
Precisely.
Quintus Tertullian lived in ancient Rome, in the second and third centuries AD. Trained first as a lawyer, he was one of the early Christian writers.