Perhaps the most pressing concern we have as we grow older is what happens to us when we die. A focus on death is not usually a pressing issue for the young, who presumably have many years of opportunity and growth before them. But death is a pressing concern for most of us as we draw closer to the end of life, or at least the end of life as we know it.

So what happens to us when we die? If there is life after death, will I be a bodiless soul enjoying an ethereal bliss? Or does life after death include a bodily experience? But if so, which body - my current one or a restored body? And does eternal life start immediately after death, or is there a waiting period before God restores all the dead to life? But what if there is no conscious life after death. Do I simply fade away as the memories of those who knew me fade away as well? These are questions I ask, and perhaps you do as well.

This historical-critical survey of Christian thought will challenge our beliefs and enable us to reassess and reclaim what we believe - even if we find ourselves with beliefs that differ from most others.

Many of us struggle, uncertain whether we should be guilty for the racism and sexism that exist in our society. We acknowledge how unfair life has been for many, but we do not know how to right past and present wrongs without making things unfair to others. Affirmative Action, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and other social initiatives seek to provide equitable opportunities for all, but they do so by unequally treating race and gender. Many ask, “How is that fair? Others counter, “And the current system is fair?” Today’s podcast examines whether we are guilty for the acts of past generations and whether fairness and equality are the best measures of a moral society.

For the past 60 years, I held in trust a wooden model of the Mayflower. The Mayflower was the ship the Pilgrims sailed in 1620 as they migrated from England to the coast of America in search of a place where, without fear of punishment, they could practice their Christian faith. As I replaced the rigging on the Mayflower model and reglued the masts so that they could properly hold the varnished canvas sails, I began to contemplate what the Mayflower ship represented. It seems heroic that the Pilgrims were willing to risk their lives to leave England and to sail across a treacherous sea in a ship as small and unstable as the Mayflower, as I was taught, in pursuit of religious freedom.

But then I asked myself if the Pilgrims’ desire to preserve their freedom of religious expression ever masked intolerance of another’s freedom of religious expression? And what does it mean to believe in religious freedom today when many Christian citizens support only political candidates who advocate for their flavor of Christianity while being intolerant of other religions? Is this the freedom of religion that the Pilgrims sought as they sailed on the Mayflower, to promote their own religious vision while repressing all other religious beliefs? Is this the religious expression, shaped by religious intolerance, that we as a nation today profess as sacred governance?