Just going by what I've observed so far, I think there's definitely something to the idea of a soul that keeps going when the body dies. But here's where my view diverges from almost religious people, let alone Christians: That soul is PHYSICAL. This doesn't necessarily mean we can measure the soul using current scientific methods or that we ever WILL be able to. Modern quantum physics relies on the idea that there are quite a few more dimensions than three, which totally nullifies and invalidates all our longstanding assumptions about physical space: what's touching and what's not, what EXISTS and what doesn't, etc. (For more on this topic, check out "http://lilprofnotes.blogspot.com/2007/12/extra-dimensions.html".) So if we can't measure it and it goes on after we die, does it really matter if the soul's physical or not? Putting the possible interpretation of that question as "... if the soul exists or not" aside, I'd still answer with an emphatic YES. If it's physical, it breaks down over time; it's not immortal. Maybe not so fragile as what we think of as the human body (what I'd call the REST of the human body), but still mortal. So summing up my totally off-the-cuff, unverifiable position: Yes, we have souls that outlive us; yes, ghosts are real; no, we're not endowed with eternal life, at least not as individuals. I'm not particularly religious, but I do think all that mumbo-jumbo has at least some grounding in reality. I believe in evolution, but I also think there's room for manipulation of the system be a higher power (not necessarily the highEST power, but highER).