Ethics and the Afterlife

I just changed an answer to an OKCupid question.
It was along the lines of whether a belief in the afterlife makes someone a more ethical person.

I had originally answered that it didn't matter.
After thinking about it, though, I think it causes problems, at least in the Christian model.

At least as I understand it, in most Christian sects, as long as someone repents and professes belief prior to death, then everything they did in life is forgiven and, perhaps after a brief period in the penalty box, the deceased's soul spends eternity in a relatively pleasant existence.

Of course, fail to do this, and there are more unpleasant alternatives available. There are lots of cartoons about this.

But the fundamental tenant seems to be that the only thing for which one is never forgiven is failure to believe in the deity.

Think of the number of heinous acts that have been carried out through history in the name of god by someone  confident they will be forgiven later.

Indeed, the Catholic Church made a great deal of money with this scam back in 14th and 15th centuries by selling, for money, "indulgences" that were kind of a carbon offset for sin. (selling carbon offsets is the same thing today, but that is another post)

Kill, main, lie, cheat, steal, screw your neighbor's wife, beat off, think about anything you want - as long as it is all cleared up before you actually croak, you're cool.

Again, at least as I understand it, Islam carries a similar line of thought. It is perfectly OK to murder and grievously injure fellow human beings - even in some cases other Muslims (so long as they are a different sect than you), in the name of god, because only the judgment of the god matters.

Take away belief in the afterlife, and things change.

The only way to get forgiveness is in THIS life. You are judged in life for the life you actually lead.
Actually we all are, by those people around us and the people who we affect as we pass through. What would they say about you, what do they say about you?

Of course all of us have the choice of making these in-life judgments important to us. We choose to consider them, or not. But if I decide I don't like being judged that way, then there is for me only one way to change it. I cannot appeal to any uber-being. I have to deal directly with the people I life with.

Which option causes more pause for thought?
And is it not that pause for thought that, in turn, raises the possibility of an ethical life?