Introduction:

Science and religion have often times been at odds, each expressing their doctrine at the cost of the other. The arguments for each side are often laden with fallacies, especially the straw man fallacy. The straw man fallacy happens when a false scenario is created in order to attack the other side’s argument in hopes of being able to invalidate the other side’s argument. This is seen widely seen in the debate over evolution. The anti-science argument describes evolution on as only occurring by chance and questioning the feasibility of complex traits. The opposing argument, anti-creationism, paints a picture in which God controls all things. This type of argument between science and religion can be seen in many different instances, but some of the topics debated can exist in harmony with a little reinterpretation or different application of the concepts. Two such opposing beliefs are Christian judgment in its eschatology and quantum immortality. The question becomes, with a little reinterpretation, is it possible to satisfactorily match the theory of quantum immortality with Christianity’s view of judgment upon death.

Quantum Immortality:

Quantum immortality is a concept spawned by the quantum suicide thought experiment. This experiment consists of a nuclear device that a man activates and expects for it to detonate. However, it is feasible that the device will not go off, even likely as this type of nuclear reaction is probabilistic. However, because of the existence of multiple universes, a concept validated by quantum physics, the nuclear device would not be triggered in every universe, because of the nuclear reaction failing, and the man would survive on in some universes. Some universes would even exist in which one would never initiate the quantum suicide experiment. This creates a sense of immortality, but not true immortality, as the person would not live forever. However, it is immortality in the sense that a person’s initial being survives pasts its own death (Quantum Immortality).

The concept of quantum immortality relies heavily on the existence of multiple parallel universes. Multiple universes are believed to be possible by observing the behavior of a single particle. These parallel universes are independent, dependent on the history of the particular, and unable to observe the events in the other universes (Wallace 2002). It is important to remember that quantum physics is predictive, not descriptive. This is an important distinction because of the probabilistic nature of all interactions seen in the world. Quantum physics can only describe what is likely, not what will happen (Buddhism and Quantum Physics). The probabilistic nature of these interactions is what drives physicist Hugh Everett’s description of the possibility of multiple universes, and consequently quantum immortality (Wallace 2002).

The basic line of thought that spawned this came from the observation of the spin states of a particle. A spin state is similar to an object rotating clockwise versus counterclockwise. A single particle will be observed to determine what its spin state is. However, upon observation of the spin of a particle, the world of the particle is no longer in equilibrium and the state could change. It is here that probability comes into play. The change that the particle exhibits in its spin is probabilistic, so that the particle’s spin state has a chance of changing and a chance of not changing (Wallace 2002). According to the Everett interpretation, each possible spin state would exist at the same time, though in separate universes. The probabilistic nature of quantum physics allows for this possibility of more than one universe. Quantum physics can only provide a probability because multiple things can occur. If this sort of behavior was descriptive, only one possible outcome would exist. But because more than one outcome exists, each outcome is both possible and must logically occur (Wallace 2002).

Upon additional observation of the particle, the complexity of the overall set of universes increases. This is a result of the increasing complexity of the history of the particles. Each new chance for a spin state to change has not only its own possibilities, but has a unique set of past changes. This is the history of the particle, mentioned previously. At each time an observation is made, the universe would branch, or split, as a different possibility would be created. After each set of branches, the overall numbers of possible spin states, relative to the past spin states increases. This creates an almost tree like system of universes, all spawned from a single point but with multiple branches (Wallace 2002). This can be seen in the attached picture, image one (Splitting). However, each branch exists both independently and uniquely of the others, but all of the others still exist at the same time.

In the context of the quantum suicide experiment, an individual would both die and not die. It would be at the point when the device is triggered that the universe branches. We would have one universe in which the scientist commits suicide and another in which the scientist failed to commit suicide. It is because in one path, a person would still live on past a potentially life ending event that it is thought of as a form of immortality (Quantum Immortality). The scientist would survive past his own death. However, there is a problem in proving this view. In the example of the spin state of a particle, each observation would only trace a single path. The observer would only see one history of spin states. He would know of the possibility of the other states existing, but would have no firsthand knowledge of it. Similarly, a man attempting the quantum suicide experiment would not have knowledge of a successful, or a failed, suicide attempt. He would only know if he failed to commit suicide and would have no knowledge beyond that fact (Szul). The experimenter would not learn of the overall state of the universes in which he or she exists. Because of this, the possibility of the quantum suicide experiment being proven, with our current knowledge, is not likely (Quantum Immortality).

The Structure of Christian Death and Judgment:

The goal of the life of a Christian is to be moral (Christianity). This sense of morality is exemplified in the Ten Commandments, but is expanded upon throughout the bible in the teachings of Jesus: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life” (James 1.12.). This desire to be moral is also that which a Christian is judged by upon death. This can be quite difficult though, bordering on impossible. It is this difficulty that led to the belief of some Christians in purgatory (Christianity). No one is capable of living a completely moral life. Purgatory exists as the period of time directly after death during which man, in the form of his soul, atones for the sins committed in life: "fire will test the work of each one [i.e. individual person], of what kind it [the work] is" (First Epistle to the Corinthians 3:13). During this period, the prayers of others attempt to remove the sins of the past life. The path of atonement through prayer can be seen in a traditional Roman Catholic mass (Purgatory). However, purgatory also manifests itself as a time of discomfort, as is seen in Dante’s writings and described by St. Thomas Aquinas: "to cleanse us from the remains of sin...the pain of fire only is ascribed to Purgatory" (Aquinas). Though the path varies, the goal remains the same: to cleanse the soul of the recently deceased so that they can eventually ascend into heaven.

Once their time in purgatory has been completed, the person’s soul passes into a period of individual heaven or hell. This period is a time of waiting for the eventuality of the end of days. During this time, the soul “lives” out what is expected for the rest of its existence. It is upon the assignment to this temporary heaven or hell that the first judgment is made (Kohn 2005). During purgatory, the soul is assumed rightly to be impure and therefore is not judged (Purgatory). Now, at the completion of the cleansing period the soul is transferred to a new location. The location is assigned based on how one has lived one’s life and on the penance performed during purgatory. These forms of heaven and hell are only slightly different from the final heaven and hell in the sense that they are incomplete and temporary. This temporary heaven, for example, does not have any communion with God that marks final heaven, but maintains all of the other components of lack a lack of suffering (Kohn). It is for this reason that it is described as an individual heaven – individual in the sense that you are still separate from God

The soul waits in one of these locations until the end of days. The end of days is the time of final judgment that occurs at the end of humanity. Once the end of days occurs, there is no time left for penance. Despite this, the end of days is still seen as a positive event because it marks the end of worldly suffering. At this point, individuals are resurrected, or brought back from the dead, for the purpose of final judgment. Final judgment is the time when one’s time of existence is judged relatively to the entire length of human time. A person who lived what could be termed an average life would seem to be good in light of how others have lived, if his or her life was seen as particularly immoral. God assigns each individual to his or her eternal locations accordingly (Christian Eschatology). One who has lived his or her life well relative to others, attains heaven, which is a paradise where they can commune directly with God (I Corinthians 13:8-13). One who has lived a wicked life relative to others receives a sentence of eternal punishment in hell. Pope John Paul II describes hell as "more than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy" (Pope John Paul II 1999).

A Positive Interpretation of the Two:

The important concept of Christian judgment after death is the path that a soul takes to reach its final point, heaven and hell. A soul enters purgatory where it atones for its sins. After atonement, it is judged and placed in an individual hell or heaven that acts as a waiting period. The waiting period ends at the end of days, a time when the soul is resurrected and then judged by God relative to its role in humanity. God then assigns the final resting place: heaven or hell. However in quantum immortality, a person dies not once, but many times. Each of the universes can be unique with different paths that result from different choices and events found uniquely in a certain subset of universes. This creates a unique problem when looking at judgment through a Christian perspective. Christianity, in the literal interpretation, sees only one man existing. However in quantum immortality, there are multiple paths that are all spawned by the same individual. The different paths can be viewed as each path as a new individual or as the overall combination of paths as one individual. The question around how to integrate the Christian views and quantum immortality is a question centered on the judgment of an individual. Will a person’s being, single at birth, be split into multiple people or will it remain intact. The best compromise between these two will exist as the positive interpretation of quantum immortality and Christianity as it will allow for widest spectrum of beliefs from each viewpoint.

Christian judgment can be viewed from the sense that each quantum path is a unique individual. This would produce a view of judgment and life after death as very similar to the one described in Christianity. Each person would be judged in exactly the aforementioned process of normal Christian eschatology. A soul at the end of each path will face atonement, judgment, and punishment or reward independently of the others. The problem with reinterpreting the views of Christian eschatology and judge and quantum immortality comes from two locations. The first of these is the question of shared history. Each of the different paths of time that resulted from the creation of a new universe has at least one shared portion. This can be problematic, as the same portion of life would be judged repeatedly, even if the event after splitting were only judged once. The second problem with this reinterpretation exists because what started out as individual, an individual at conception, is judged more than once; it is feasible that one could run into oneself in heaven or hell. One’s initial, pre-branching essence, likewise, could be split into beings in heaven and beings in hell. What constituted oneself in the beginning could be deemed both good and bad, so that it exists in both heaven and hell.

The treatment of a life, after the completion of all paths, can also be seen as an amalgamation of all of the individual paths into one overall being. In this view, the soul would exist as one after death, but in life as many parts. This can be validated religiously through the process of resurrection. The being that was conceived was conceived as a single person. Later on in life, it splits into multiple beings. Upon resurrection, after all paths created in the theory of quantum immortality have been closed, the soul could be resurrected as a single being. The soul would have joined with the other manifestations, or portions, of itself to create a single being. This event could feasibly occur at any point and even before the resurrection at the end of days.

The shortcoming of this interpretation is the question of the first judgment. The first judgment occurs after purgatory. However, if the combination of the soul into a single entity occurs before purgatory, then the paths that created a pure section of the soul would feasibly have to suffer the same fate as the wicked parts of the soul. The good parts would spend a greater time in purgatory, and may have to go to an individual hell just because of the bad fragments of the soul. The presence of multiple paths for a life to take also raises the question of what happens to the fragment when the individual paths close. Not every single path would end at exactly the same time. Consequently, in this interpretation of the two there is no place for the individual sections to remain while the rest of the sections live on. Furthermore, if all of the individual paths stopped at the same point, then quantum immortality would not truly exist, as one would not be able to survive on past one’s own deaths. Once one has died in one path, all paths must end at the same instant.

The combination of these two possibilities would present the best solution to the problem of a positive interpretation. The two judgments would benefit from sections of each of the two prior interpretations and could be structured so that none of the drawbacks exists. The main benefit of the split interpretation is seen in the first judgment. Each fragment of the soul can pass into the afterlife and commence judgment as is require for the unique sins. This means that at the closing of a path, that part of the soul would pass into a purgatory and would only have to atone for that soul’s own sins. Then, it would pass into an individual heaven or hell of its own creation. The location of the waiting period for a portion of soul would not be determined by some other path that that portion had no influence on. Furthermore, the term individual heaven or individual hell was previously meant as something of one’s own creation and without the interaction of God and soul. Individual could also be taken in the quantum context of being a path in the overall structure of one’s being, in the sense that each path is to be treated as a single individual, not as a composite of many individuals.

This description of Christian eschatology and judgment and quantum immortality transitions nicely into the occurrences around the second judgment. The end of days could take on two different meanings. It is generally understood as the end of humanity. All humankind is finished in this world upon the end of days and awaits judgment upon resurrection as to whether they will reside in heaven or in hell. This judgment is based on the life that has been led. The end of days, however, could also be read in the context of quantum immortality to be the end of a single being’s days. It would be seen here as being the time when all paths that spawned from a single conception are closed. Resurrection would occur and these different paths would be combined into a single being to be judged. Judgment would occur as it did in regular Christian eschatology then so that a soul would be judged relative to humanity and then placed in heaven or in hell. The individual sections of the soul that are least pure would have an opportunity to atone for the sins that have been committed in prior purgatory and would still have the possibility of reaching heaven upon final judgment.

Conclusion

Through the previous analysis, it has been shown that science and religion, in this case at least, can exist intermingled. The problem with many arguments constructed that argue for science or for religion over the other is in the fallacies used to construct them. But because of an objective view and careful construction, a happy merger of quantum immortality and Christian eschatology and judgment is possible. Quantum immortality, a scientific construct that argues for life beyond a single death is based on the existence of multiple universes and differing, independent worlds and histories in each. Because of these differing paths, Christianity had to be interpreted in a slightly different way. The individual paths remain separate through purgatory, the first judgment, and individual heaven and hell. It is only at the end of days, whether it is interpreted as the end of humanity or the end of that instance of a human, that the soul becomes reassembled into a single being and its whole is judged against the rest of humanity. This in no way argues for or against the existence of the Christian perception of an afterlife, but just explains how the path through afterlife according to Christianity is possible in light of what can happen according to quantum immortality. Heaven and hell may or may not exist, but the path can exist in light of this scientific belief.

Image One

(Splitting)
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“Quantum Immortality.” Wikipedia. 11/15/05.

“Splittings.” Wikipedia. 12/1/05.

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