Evidence
There is no scientific evidence for life after death but the belief in an afterlifeLife after death. is strong among religious and also some non-religious people.
Belief in life after death in religions
For many religious people, belief in life after death is based on teachings in their scriptures or traditions. The sacred texts in Christianity, Judaism and Islam talk of an afterlife, so for followers of these faiths life after death has been promised by God. For Buddhists, belief in reincarnationThe religious belief that existence is a cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth, and that the soul survives physical death and is reborn in a new body. is based on the tradition that the BuddhaThe founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama, after his enlightenment. It is a title which means the enlightened or awakened one. remembered his past lives when he reached enlightenmentThe realisation of the truth about life. In Buddhism it releases a person from the cycle of rebirth..
Belief in life after death among non-religious people
Not all people who believe in life after death would call themselves 'religious'. For example, some people believe in the concept of reincarnation but are not necessarily Buddhist, Hindu or Sikh. Others feel natural justice requires good to be rewarded and evil punished but do not hold one of the traditional faiths that promise an afterlife.
For some people, near-death experiences (NDENear Death Experience - people claim to sense that they have experienced leaving their bodies and seeing something beyond this life.) a sense of d茅j脿 vuThe experience of thinking that a new situation had occurred before. or witnessing ghostThought to be the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear, in visible form to the living., perhaps through a mediumA person thought to have the power to communicate with the spirits of the dead or with agents of another world or dimension., convince them there is life beyond death.