[Serious] Literal and Not Literal

[Darwin1245]

Generally speaking, it applies to most popular religions. Exceptions may exist, but such consoling myths do exist in most religions which include the primitive ones. Myths about death is an example, which is why "death" was preceded with "like."

Buddhism? After death you may be reincarnated as a worm, a hungry ghost, a tormented soul in hell. Is this knowledge consoling? If you did a good job before, you can get a better deal, but you don't know until you get there. In the end, after a zillion reincarnations, you may manage to disappear completely.

Christianity (many forms) you have a good chance of eternal torture, and you don't know until you go. Well, that's consoling. 

I don't know anything about Islam. 

Ancient Greek religion: the afterlife is terrible. Ancient Roman religion: depending on how you did in this life, you might get a nice neighborhood in Hades. But you don't know until you go there.

Generally speaking, it applies to most popular religions. Exceptions may exist, but such consoling myths do exist in most religions which include the primitive ones. Myths about death is an example, which is why "death" was preceded with "like."

This doesn’t seem to be even generally true. People in practice generally are consolatory when dealing with death, we pretty much tell everyone grieving over loss, something like he’s in a better place, or he’s no longer suffering, etc...

But religious myths, even as Belaqua pointed out, that have an after life of some sorts whether reincarnation or heaven, hardly seem to fill the same role, in fact they tend to offer an alternative destructive place or state as well. So whatever purpose myths that contain suggestions of an after life, it doesn’t seem to be for the purpose of consultation.

Norse religion:

We're all screwed at the end. Even the gods.

It appears that they believed in different fates that did not all involve Hell-like places. However, they are not as simple as Heaven-or-Hell. Valhalla seems much better than Helheim. 



It is hard to claim that there was one and only reason for religions to be made up. I did make it clear that "consolation" was probably a reason, which may be demonstrated by beliefs about afterlife in many religions, but, surely, there might be other possible explanations, especially when this does not seem applicable in such examples. 
 
I believe that any kind of afterlife seems more understandable than disappearance; however, it seems that myths that survive are those that combine a bit of consolation (like the possibility of Heaven, Valhalla, reincarnation) with the seemingly "facts" (like the fact that bodies, when they die, seem to suffer/disappear by becoming skeletons).