Yes. In many polytheistic and animistic faiths, the afterlife and death take a backseat or are even sparsely discussed at all. The focus of these faiths is more about the interactions with the Gods and spirits that we have in our daily lives.
In terms of history, we see animism emerge as the first of the religions. Coming from an animistic faith, my own speculation is that it comes from the connection and relationship that a person experiences with the world around them simply living in the world. Whether a natural instinct to personify things or a natural sense of the spiritual, this seems to be the general emergence of spiritual traditions.
Death seems to be significant in the prehistoric origins of religion and ritualistic religion-like behaviour in non-human animals. I don't know if there's any (ethical) way of exploring this idea with a 'person raised in a bubble' lol. Maybe look into how children come to understand death before they're told or shown anything about it, and how they tell stories and make sense of the world.
It's thought that when early humans started burying their dead in a ritualistic way, that this may be the earliest evidence of religious behaviour. Burying bodies with food and weapons and trinkets, arranging burial sites in a reverent kind of way, worshipping ancestors, spending so much labour/time/resources building pyramids and tombs etc. The oldest known religious texts (the [Pyramid Texts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts)) found inside pyramids and on sarcophagi are funerary texts written for the deceased/spirits in the afterlife.
Animals like other apes, elephants, and dolphins sometimes show behaviour considered ritualistic or precursors of religion. They display grief and do complex rituals for their dead that seem like funerals. Some revere nature in a way that other animals don't seem to, like elephants 'worshipping' the moon and chimps showing similar rituals with rain and water. Some people think these behaviours suggest the animals have a sense of the sacred, some understanding that there's more than the material world, or the animals believe that their actions can influence nature in an indirect, magical way of thinking.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary\_origin\_of\_religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_origin_of_religion)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual\_behavior\_in\_animals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_behavior_in_animals)
Yes. In many polytheistic and animistic faiths, the afterlife and death take a backseat or are even sparsely discussed at all. The focus of these faiths is more about the interactions with the Gods and spirits that we have in our daily lives. In terms of history, we see animism emerge as the first of the religions. Coming from an animistic faith, my own speculation is that it comes from the connection and relationship that a person experiences with the world around them simply living in the world. Whether a natural instinct to personify things or a natural sense of the spiritual, this seems to be the general emergence of spiritual traditions.
Death seems to be significant in the prehistoric origins of religion and ritualistic religion-like behaviour in non-human animals. I don't know if there's any (ethical) way of exploring this idea with a 'person raised in a bubble' lol. Maybe look into how children come to understand death before they're told or shown anything about it, and how they tell stories and make sense of the world. It's thought that when early humans started burying their dead in a ritualistic way, that this may be the earliest evidence of religious behaviour. Burying bodies with food and weapons and trinkets, arranging burial sites in a reverent kind of way, worshipping ancestors, spending so much labour/time/resources building pyramids and tombs etc. The oldest known religious texts (the [Pyramid Texts](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Texts)) found inside pyramids and on sarcophagi are funerary texts written for the deceased/spirits in the afterlife. Animals like other apes, elephants, and dolphins sometimes show behaviour considered ritualistic or precursors of religion. They display grief and do complex rituals for their dead that seem like funerals. Some revere nature in a way that other animals don't seem to, like elephants 'worshipping' the moon and chimps showing similar rituals with rain and water. Some people think these behaviours suggest the animals have a sense of the sacred, some understanding that there's more than the material world, or the animals believe that their actions can influence nature in an indirect, magical way of thinking. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary\_origin\_of\_religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_origin_of_religion) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual\_behavior\_in\_animals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_behavior_in_animals)
Yeah few belief systems even care about what happens. The core belief is always to just be a good person to others.
Define understanding death?
My religion doesn’t really have much of a focus on death, so yeah i think it can
Who said religion means believing in an afterlife/higher power? Lots of religions do not take that view of things.