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There is a wartime aphorism that goes something like, There are no atheists in foxholes.

It is believed this expression originated during the gruesome trench warfare of World War I.

The underlying presumption is that when a person is faced with

imminent and almost certain death, there is one question that is undoubtedly catapulted to the

forefront of their mind. What happens after I die? Certainly, of all the unsolved mysteries, this

must be among the greatest known to man, a yearning question that, of all the unsolved mysteries, this must be among the greatest known to man.

A yearning question that, depending on who you ask, can yield a variety of different answers

and provoke heated debate.

Most ironically, our passionate disagreements about death have repeatedly resulted in our

determined efforts to send one another to an early grave.

Religious conflicts are as prevalent in war history as our political, social, or economic conflicts.

Beyond this animalistic proclivity for bloodshed, however, among the billions of people who peacefully

practice a variety of differing

religions, at least one unifying concept of their faith centers on the existence of an eternal

soul.

While our physical bodies may wither away and die, the spiritual body goes on, transcending

the physical world into a different plane of existence,

an afterlife. For many others, however, aside from the idea of entering into complete

non-existence, the reality of what awaits us in death isn't as clear cut. What if, some believe,

...