http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... 36,00.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... z0dUao0hYV" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;Is there life after death? Theologians can debate all they want, but radiation oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Long argues that if you look at the scientific evidence, the answer is unequivocally yes. Drawing on a decade's worth of research on near-death experiences — work that includes cataloguing the stories of some 1,600 people who have gone through them — he makes the case for that controversial conclusion in a new book, Evidence of the Afterlife. Medicine, Long says, cannot account for the consistencies in the accounts reported by people all over the world. He talked to TIME about the nature of near-death experience, the intersection between religion and science and the Oprah effect.
Sometimes, as Buddhists, we get easily stuck in arguing finer points about rebirth - how can it happen without a soul?
Or, arguing against other religious perspectives - have the Christians got it right? How does it fit with Dharma?
But often I think, in the modern world, the view gaining most ground is materialist annihilism - nothing at all after death.
From a Dharma point of view, that is a really pernicious nasty wrong view, leading to a lot of dukkha.
In comparison, even the rather misplaced ideas of the next life proposed by Christianity and other religions, are preferable.
Any serious discussion in society about the truth or validity of these views is something worth looking into.
Particularly where intelligent and qualified persons, in fields outside religion such as the sciences, medicine, etc. can provide insight.
If it's true, then it should be there for all to see, well, those who seriously look into the matter, at least.
A couple of good sites on this, with a scientific perspective:
http://www.nderf.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.iands.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;