Heaventually

In a slow news week, a new survey published by Theos, a "public theology think tank", has garnered some interest in its findings. Although a number of news sources picked up on the rather depressing statistic that more people now believe in ghosts and the power of Tarot cards than did in the 1950s, one curious fact has been overlooked.

According to the data, 55% believe in heaven but only 53% believe in life after death. That means 2% of the population believes in heaven but not in life after death, which is an unusual theological position to take. I suppose this means that some of the population takes its lead from the famous philosopher Belinda Carlisle, who posited that "Heaven is a place on earth" in her 1987 hit song.

By coincidence, two per cent of the world's population owns about half of all global household assets. The other 98% must be counting on the afterlife.