DOES THE SOUL EXIST?
By Norm R. Allen Jr.
Is there strong evidence for the existence of the soul? This question generates many more questions. The supposed soul has no physical eyes, ears, nose, taste buds or sense of feeling. If a soul can derive pleasure, it must be of a mental kind. But if the soul has no brain, how could it have a mind? Is there strong evidence to support the extraordinary claim that the mind exists — or could exist — without a brain?
Where does the soul go after physical death, and how do we know? If the soul goes to Heaven or Hell, what does it do in these supposed places? Some Christians, such as those of the Worldwide Church of God, believe that souls in Heaven will work on farms and raise and enjoy healthy foods. But if farming and a healthy lifestyle don’t float your boat, you’re not likely to enjoy your blessed eternity if this is the case. Besides, what would a soul need with food or a healthy lifestyle?
Some Muslim men believe that they will be rewarded in Paradise with 72 virgins. According to some Muslim scholars, the correct translation from the Quran is raisins and not virgins. But what if you hate raisins? What if they upset your stomach? And again, because souls have no taste buds or bodies, what would they do with raisins? Then again, someone once joked that the actual Islamic promise is one 72-year-old virgin!
The 72 virgins idea is strange no matter how you cut it. Are the virgins going to be happy having sex on demand in what the late Christopher Hitchens once called “a celestial brothel”? And will the men be happy if the virgins do not find them attractive? And why virgins? Wouldn’t most lust-filled men prefer 72 porn stars or highly experienced hookers?
Many people expect to see their spouses in the afterlife. But what if their spouses do not want to see them? What if a spouse wants to get with an ex-spouse instead? What if several ex-spouses want to be reunited forever with the same man or woman?
What about souls that burn in Hell? How can a soul burn anyway? If Hell is not about fire, what is it like? If souls make it to Heaven, will they be laughing as their unfortunate loved ones are experiencing eternal torment? Or will they be unhappy for an eternity in Heaven, constantly focusing on the plight of their loved ones?
What about incubi (male) and succubi (female), evil spirits that allegedly have sex with women and men, respectively? In many parts of Africa, this belief is still prevalent. Those who still harbor this belief must be asking themselves: Is it better with a demon?
What is the average time it takes for a soul to travel to its proper destination? Most people no longer believe in limbo or purgatory. Many Christians believe that those who are saved will not be resurrected until Christ returns to usher in the end times. If true, what are those souls doing in the mean time? Are they bored? Sleeping?
One does not have to be religious to believe in souls or spirits. Some people believe in ghosts, and claim that they have seen them. What is strange is that the ghosts always wear clothes, even though they do not, properly speaking, have bodies. In a letter to the editor of the July/August 2022 issue of the Skeptical Inquirer, Jim Feltner of Michigan City, Indiana asks, Did their clothes die too?
Of course, skeptics have examined these kinds of paranormal claims for decades, and they have found no strong evidence to support them. What about out-of-body experiences and near-death experiences? Leading skeptics such as Susan Blackmore have become experts in this area, and there are plausible scientific explanations for these phenomena as well.
Three percent of the U.S. population is fantasy-prone, so it should not be shocking that some people believe they have sex with demons, see ghosts, and so on. But as my former colleague, leading skeptic Joe Nickell likes to say, “There are no haunted houses. Just haunted people.” And there is no strong evidence for the existence of the soul.