As someone with a more agnostic approach, I don't deny the possibility of anything. There could very well be a spot waiting for me in the halls of Valhalla - that is one such possibility, just as the christian explanation for life after death, just as Russell's explanation for life after death.

However, to be brutally honest everything I see in nature (in existence) leads me to the same conclusion as Russell. It's not a belief, it's just what I think most likely is the case. On the one hand, it must seem a great offense to suggest that we simply cease to exist (particularly to the christian mind), on the other hand it's all in how you choose to look at it. Assuming I led a full life, one not taken from me prematurely or unfairly, I think I would welcome this form of an ending. It would be a great release, a true final resting. Everything in nature expires, including the planets, the stars and even the universe itself; even if we do have a soul, what's to say that it won't expire at some point either?

While I'm not denying the possibility that a soul exists, nothing in nature gives me strong hope in their being one. This may make a lot of people cry out and ask about morals and justice and what's the point of it all. The fact of the matter is, we have to face the possibility that this is how the world works (maybe it doesn't, but what would you do if you knew for certain that it did?). I think morals exist because we may not have a soul, because when we pass away we are no more and exist only in the minds of the living. We create morals to give meaning to our existence (and because we don't enjoy pain being inflicted upon us, heh). To me that is infinitely more heartfelt than living according to morals because a slab of rock with a series of thou shalt nots carved upon it tells us to.

But no, I don't deny the possibility of a soul. If I had it may way, a stunningly beautiful Valkyrie would come to sweep me off the earth I have been lain upon on the day that I pass away and she would escort me to the halls of Valhalla. Unfortunately, as much as I want this to be the case, I'm not holding my breath