Lol honestly I feel like I am by myself on this. What I am saying is if you take away all religion why would anyone even think of an afterlife. The only thing you would worry about is this life and that's it. So if what Oryx is saying is true then there is no after life whether heaven hell or sleep nothing. But this thought of afterlife period who came up with it?
Because it's something people don't understand.
Look at the old religions of the world... the ancient Greek and Egyptians. What did their religions center around? Myths. We call them myths now because they are old and deemed silly.
Properly a myth is a story or parable to explain a natural phenomenon by supernatural and celestial means. How does the sun move across the sky? Why it's lead by a golden chariot lead by Apollo of course! What causes thunder and lightning? Why a great god throws them from the tallest mountaintops then he's angry!
What things boil down to is people are scared of things they don't understand, and that they may never understand. It's a very natural and instinctual response. Death is a scary concept. The idea that one day you will cease to be. That there will be a painful experience that will lead to your end. Pain and the unknown will make many lose sleep at night.
So how do we soften this fear? Eternal life by some means.
You die in this world to go to a better one, a heaven or a hell depending on your actions in life.
You're reincarnated as another creature to life another life on this world.
You achieve peace.
You are now a spirit, watching over all those who still yet live and guide them on their journey.
You will rise again come judgment day. So take what you can with you. Even your cat.
You will be sent to a world of the dead, organized by your life choices to live forever in peace, or to be tormented for all eternity.
...
The question of death is life's oldest question, the heart of philosophy.
Religion is the result of man's curiosity and the desire to make sense of the senseless. Of course, now we explain things with science, and the more we explain with science, the less mystery there seems to be.
But trust me, there are a great many mysteries, questions and answers we never even thought of knowing or asking.
As for my understanding. We die, and there is nothing. No great sleep, no heaven or hell. We simply cease to be.
Religion is merely training wheels to make people feel more comfortable in this crazy ride called life. Once we remove them, we should be able to progress even further, unhindered by the stigma's and dogma of structuralized religions.