New Religions Born From Death

From:  The Next World: Extraordinary Experiences of the Afterlife - Gregory Shushan

In the late 19th century, the Ghost Dance revitalization movements originated with the NDE of the Native American Paiute shaman Wovoka. Likewise, the Indian Shaker Church was founded by Squ-sacht-un, also known as John Slocum, following instructions given to him during an NDE. Indeed, although the Shakers considered themselves to be Christian, because Slocum returned from the dead with personal testimony of the other world, his word was valued as revelation while the Bible was not. In another example of an NDE-based religious movement, around 1860 a Wanapum shaman named Smohalla was killed in a fight. He revived and proclaimed that he had been “in the spirit world and had now returned by divine command to guide his people.” Having witnessed his death, his people believed him and accepted his teachings on the authority of his experience. Smohalla’s revelation and messages were consistent with those of many other revitalization movement prophets, and his new “Dreamer” religion – Washani – combined local beliefs and rituals with elements of Catholicism and perhaps Mormonism.  Washani spread to many neighboring tribes, introducing a system of hereditary priests, new dances, and ceremonies. The religion was sustained, in part, by further experiences in which Smohalla apparently died, left his body, went to the spirit world, and returned with additional revelations

Many other examples of such movements originating in NDEs are known, not only in North American traditions, but also in South America and the Pacific. These examples substantiate ethnologist and psychologist Holger Kalweit’s generalization that individuals across cultures claim that they gained their knowledge of the afterlife “from the experiences of those who have returned [NDErs] and from shamans.”

In 1704, Kimpa Vita died during a weeklong illness, then revived. She claimed to have met Saint Anthony, who told her he had “been sent from God to your head to preach to the people.” He gave her religious and political instructions, then entered her body and remained in her thereafter, just as spirits did with members of the Kimpasi cult. Subsequently, Kimpa Vita “died” each Friday in order to commune with God in heaven over the weekend. Her possession by the saint gave her the ability to per form miracles such as healings and controlling nature and the weather. It also led to the foundation of a syncretized religious revitalization movement called Antonianism.

Reminiscent of many historical examples, some NDErs even believed that they had been chosen by their god to deliver his message to people on Earth.

In 1932, a Wandamen man was found alive three days after drowning. He described his visit to the underworld where he met the dead, then became a medium, a prophet, and the founder of the Sade Koreri movement. Likewise, a man who was killed by a snake returned to life with new “magicomedical curative techniques” and founded the Baigona movement. 

On Karkar Island in 1949, a local cult was reinvigorated following the NDE of the prophet Kaum. He claimed that he had been killed and had gone to Heaven where he met God, saw deceased ancestors “making Cargo,” and was given a new ritual symbol. On Buka Island around 1932, a prophet named Pako returned from the dead after being hanged. Another prophet of his cult was “said to have gone to Heaven where Saint Peter told him that people were to go to church regularly, to abandon their old dances and rituals, and to levy tolls and demand higher wages from the Whites.” The Fijian Tuka cult was founded by a man named Kelevi who “claimed to have visited Heaven and to have supernatural powers”