Not sure where to put this...!

I've been avoiding the death discussion for ages. My son is 4 and really had no clue about death. My dad's cat died so we had to have the discussion. Since my son was born in 2012 I have moved entirely away from religion. I actually was not religious as a young adult so you might say I returned to my previous agnostic perspective. I was raised culturally Christian so I have a hard time totally rejecting religion but I also don't want to expose my son to the idea of heaven/hell, because I remember as a child being terrified of the devil.

I just told him that the cat lived a long time, as long as the dinosaurs, and that he had gotten very sick and had died and was not coming back. When he asked me where the cat had gone, I told him it was a mystery that people only really know when they pass. I didn't want to confirm or deny any option. I felt like I was as "truthful" as I knew how to be.

My kid asked about death a few times over the weekend and my dad mentioned heaven, and my stepmother sort of shushed him one time. It saddens me that we as a culture cannot look at death with clear eyes. I mean, even if you believe in an afterlife, it is still a taboo subject. I think I will have to reopen the discussion with him sometime soon.