...he may genuinely believe that there is a living soul which survives death endures beyond our measure of time. And who is to say that there is not?

I'm totally open to the idea of some aspect of our "selves" enduring beyond our deaths. I just think it would exist in a state where there is no "time". Saying that it exists "eternally" is a bit of a cop out. It's more than eternal, it's timeless.

I will grant, though, that explaining the concept of one's "soul" going to "live" in "eternity" is much easier for most people to grasp than the more mystical idea that some aspect of our consciousness returns to a place where there is no time, never has been, and never will be. I'm sure my grandmother would never have understood it.