Conversation | 04/09/2008 1:00 am
What Happens to Us After We Die?

JONI: So, William Buckley died and at the memorial his son Christopher told how his father was once asked what would be the right epitaph for him when he died. And — I believe his answer came from the Book of Job, or I read that it was — he said: “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” which is the perfect lead-in to: What do you think happens after we die?
LILY: Has anyone ever exhumed a human body, or are you just going beyond the corpus?
SHEILA: Do you mean it’s rotting, or it’s spiritual?
JONI: Well both. We can talk about exhuming a human body.
LILY: Well, if you want to.
JONI: Well, Lily, you just said that you did …
LILY: I did. I’m saying I have an inordinate interest in anatomy and physiological processes and things. So I know what happens to us physically. We deteriorate eventually. But I was raised Fundamentalist Baptist. What were you raised, Julia?
JULIA: Presbyterian. I just went to the Presbyterian church this morning like a good little Catholic.
LILY: You all may be more spiritual than I am.
SHEILA: I’m not at all. I was raised as a Communist Atheist by my parents.
JULIA: Well, I think being raised Baptist has made most of my Baptist friends become Communist Atheists.
LILY: Well maybe that’s kind of what I was leading to.
JONI: So, was there no religion or any kind of faith in your childhoods that led you to believe we might live on after this world?























357 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment