[taco.vidal]

The thread about the tobogganing crash turned into a discussion of religion. CBC had an article today inspired by the crash.
CP has also had threads now and then about death of friends and family.
How do you cope?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...gion-1.3963997

But does a loving creator really make his will known through the violent deaths of teenagers? And do we actually ascend to heaven once we die, to be reunited with lost loved ones?

There are, of course, no definitive answers to these questions. Many simply don't believe in an afterlife. And religious perspectives vary.

But there's one thing leaders from different denominations do agree on: Faith helps us cope with trauma.

Fayaz Tilly is a Calgary imam who also works with the University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Alberta Health Services.

He said Islam equips followers to deal with tragedy, particularly with its view of the afterlife.

"Our faith obligates us to keep our eyes on the prize and the prize is the afterlife. In order to be rewarded in the afterlife, we are obligated to worship God and part of worshiping God is being in the servitude of his creation," said Tilly.

Imam Fayaz Tilly says Islam has many tools to deal with tragedy including a goal of the afterlife. (Fayaz Tilly/Facebook)

"One hundred and ten years from now, the majority of the people who are alive today won't be alive. The afterlife is a life of permanency. That doesn't mean that we don't enjoy the world that we are living in and we don't try to leave the world in a better place than how we received it in," he said.

In the Jewish faith, supporting others through grief goes beyond being a good friend and neighbour.

It's a "sacred obligation," said Rabbi Mark Glickman with Calgary's Temple B'nai Tikvah.

"The Jewish community has a way of turning out in support of people when things like this happen, and it's beautiful to see," he said.

"It's touching to see the way a community can galvanize."

That support helps equip the grieving to deal with their loss, Glickman said, but that doesn't mean it's a perfect way or the only way to confront death.
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Bob Glasgow, who served as the non-denominational chaplain at Rockyview Hospital for 27 years and continues to work in private practice today, said there are three nearly universal types of needs people have when dealing with the death of a loved one.

Regardless of a person's religious faith, or lack thereof, he said there is almost always a yearning for relatedness and belonging, meaning and purpose, and forgiveness and reconciliation.

"I think the people that really struggle with finding their way through loss are people that develop such strong resentment ... or pretty intense guilt," he said.

Views have shifted over time, but Glasgow said there is evidence that belief in an afterlife — whether that means literal pearly gates or more abstract concepts of immortality — is beneficial for the bereaved.

"In early days in grief, people used to say, 'You've got to forget, you've got to move on,'" he said.

"But we know the people that do better in grieving are those that build a continuing bond with their deceased loved one. And, for a lot of people, the belief that their loved one's spirit lives on helps them build that continuing bond."