An Afterlife That Fits

Most officers in the US Army are Christian.

Among enlisted, more people used to be non-religious.

But Protestants are growing.

Catholics are shrinking.

All this to say, most religious grunts are Protestant or Mormon.

Yet, there’s something interesting going on.

The generation of servicemembers in combat arms have started invoking Valhalla.

One half of the afterlife promised to ancient Norse warriors.

You’ll notice that the same band there contains a reference to the Christian Bible.

What we’re seeing is a new syncretism.

In the same way that Catholicism and Islam both merged with many local beliefs, today’s American Christianity is merging with the idea of a long dead belief.

Are we witnessing a resurrection?

It’s too early to say.

The invocation of Valhalla and the matching tattoos and sayings have only popped up with seriousness in the last seven years or so.

I’d guess that the fictional tv series Vikings had something to do with it.

But for that spark to set something on fire, there had to be fuel there.

Something waiting to burn.

And to me, it makes sense.

It’s about fit.

The modern versions of Christianity make little sense for a warrior caste.

We are a culture of absolutist specialists.

The paradox of a religion of peace doesn’t resonate for people dedicated to violence.

Across the military and law enforcement, officials have attempted to stamp out this symbology.

They say it represents an “infatuation with death”.

But they’re treading difficult legal ground, since all it takes is a few people claiming that the symbology is related to their religion.

And here’s the thing: in games where inches matter, belief matters more.

An inch in a gunfight is life or death.

This will be more pronounced with drones and whatever other weapons of precision and distance we employ tomorrow.

Every belief is a potential edge.

A belief in an afterlife that fits someone’s purpose better will aid their purpose.

So when we go further out into space, we’ll need an after life.

An afterlife that fits.

We have thousands of them to try on for size, starting with examples from the standard cross-cultural sample.

And from them, and our knowledge of how matter transforms, we’ll no doubt come up with somethings fits.

Like anything that fits, it will feel good.

Amazing.