2005 Study Shows 76% of Physicians Believe In An Afterlife

Doctors and hospice workers spend inordinate amounts of time with children and adults who pass. Many have shared their extraordinary experiences with death. Additionally, much research has been done on near-death-experiences as well as the ability of certain individuals to communicate with those who've crossed from this plane to the next.

In 2005 a survey of physicians found that 76 percent believe in God and 59 percent believe in some sort of afterlife. (footnote 1) Interestingly, among members of the National Academy of Sciences in the physical sciences, most of whom work with only matter and energy (not people, life, and death), 79 percent do not believe in God( footnote 2). That discrepancy between the beliefs of professionals who work with people, life, and death, and those who work with matter and energy only only suggests that a reason for skepticism among some of the herd of skeptics is simply from not being exposed to the realities of life after death.

Some striking examples of physicians whose experiences and research have confirmed the reality of the afterlife follow:


1. Dr. Janis Amatuzio- a practitioner in forensic medicine for nearly 25 years, has come to be known as the 'compassionate coroner'. In her work, she has heard extraordinary stories from grieving family member, patients near death, police officers, clergy, and colleagues - stories of the spiritual and otherworldly experiences concerning the transition between life and death.

2. Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross- An internationally renowned physician, author, speaker, and expert on death and dying, receiving 20 honorary degrees for her achievements. She was included in the International Biographical Centre's list of the foremost women of the twentieth century. She said,"Many people are beginning to be aware that the physical body is only the house or temple, or as we call it the cocoon, which we inhabit for a certain number of months or years until we make the transition called death. Then, at the time of death, we shed this cocoon and are once again as free as a butterfly to used the symbolic language that we use when talking to dying children and their siblings.

3. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, - A physician turned writer. Most remembered as the Creator of Sherlock Holmes stories. He became a strong believer of the afterlife in 1886.

4. Dr. Enrico Morselli - Italian neurologist, Director of the Clinic of Nervous and Mental Disease at the University of Genoa began an investigation of the afterlife and became a believer.

5. Dr. Gustave Geley - Professor of medicine at the University of Lyon, studied evidence for the afterlife and gave up his practice to become the director of the Institute Metaphysichique International in Paris.

6. Dr. T.Glen Hamilton - A graduate of Manitoba Medical College, Hamilton had a private medical practice while teaching clinical surgery at Winnepeg General Hospital. He became interested in psychic phenomena after experiences with patients and conducted extensive studies on Canadian mediums.

7. Dr. Barbara R. Rommer - A founding member of the Hold Cross Medical Group in For Lauderdale, Rommer practiced medicine from 1974 until her death in 2004. She was a researcher of near-death experiences, authoring two books on the subject, including Blessing in Disguise, published in 2000.

8. Dr. Robert Bridges - a physician who became poet laureate of England, wrote, "Man is a spiritual being; the proper work of his mind is to interpret the world according to his highest nature, to conquer the material aspects of the world so as to bring them into subjugation to the spirit."

Distinguished Scientists Who Became Convinced Of The Reality Of The Afterlife Through Study:

Ron D. Pearson (engineer thermodynamics), Dr. Jan Vandersande (physicist, holder of three patents on thermoelectric and fluid mechanics, consultant to NASA, manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Thomas Alva Edison, (inventor of the phonograph and electric light bulb...was a spiritualist, Sir Joseph John Thompson (discover of the electron, professor of experimental physics at Cambridge, winner of a Nobel Prize), Professor Abdus Salam (Nobel Laureate and director of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics), Sam Nicholls (researcher into subatomic phenomena...believes that people in the afterlife are composed of slightly different atomic components, and that they exist in and share the same space with people on the Earth plane).

Those represent a partial list of Scientists who believe in the reality of an afterlife. For more information read, Your Eternal Self, by Craig Hogan. His book gives an in depth look at life after death. A 'study' of the mind, the spirit, and everlasting life. For those who want to study.

*Shared by Marsha Flynn Abbott/ A New Journey (facebook). The interview (link) of author Arthur Doyle particularly struck me. I was impressed at the historical time in which that interview took place. A time when motion pictures and home movies were so new. His collection of Sherlock Holmes stories has always been so much fun to read. (Cheers to you...dear Watson)

(1) Easton, J. C.. Survey on physicians' religious beliefs shows majority faithful. The University of Chicago Chronicle.
(2)Larson, e.J., & Witham, L. (1998) Nature, 394,313