Personally, I would be delighted if there were a life after death, especially if it permitted me to continue to learn about this world and others, if it gave me a chance to discover how history turns out.
I can respect Dr. Sagan for his candor. He acknowledges a deep down, often ignored yearning for the eternal. Having seen the movie made from his novel, Contact, with Jodie Foster, I detect a yearning for heaven and a struggle with knowing what seems unknowable. While it is not Academy Award winning stuff, it has something to say about the inscrutability of faith.