Do Atheist have Near Death Experiences?

gumby

In a thread awhile back it was mentioned that there is NO Atheist.. after they have a "Near Death Experience".

This was news to be.It was made to sound as though..... if an Atheist had this experience....he was not an Atheist after the experience. I mentioned this to my wife.....a dub. She said SHE had heard this meant......Atheist do not HAVE these experiences......that it is a pre-concieved idea one has of death.In other words....Atheist DO NOT HAVE any near death experiences because they have no preconcieved ideas of death and God taking them.

Which is correct?

Satanus

Do a search w the words atheist and nde. You will find that many atheists have had nde's.

SS

rem

Though I haven't done much research on this particular topic, I would assume that it is possible for an Atheist to have an NDE since NDE's are really just unusual electro-chemical activities that happen in an oxygen-starved brain under stress. In fact, scientists can replicate NDE's in people under controlled environments by stimulating certain parts of the brain.

rem

Satanus

Rem

Because scientists can create the same response doesn't prove or disprove much. It proves that god has nothing to do w it. Other than that, if an nde is the spirit or part of it leaving the body, then scientists making this happen on purpose wouldn't disprove the spirit theory. It isolates the basic brain processes that are involved in creating the experience.

SS

rem

SS,

I didn't mention anything about spirit, but since you bring it up:

Other than that, if an nde is the spirit or part of it leaving the body, then scientists making this happen on purpose wouldn't disprove the spirit theory

This is true. But it does make the spirit theory unnecessary and superfluous. Ochamm's razor.

It's like saying: scientists can create rainbows through refraction of light, but that doesn't prove that god isn't actually making the rainbows after a storm.

rem

CornerStone

Umm...... Wether what a person consciously believes and his ability to have a NDE is to me, simply not answerable.

I know this, however,.........

.......................you won't find an atheist on a raft in the middle of the ocean.

CornerStone

Satanus

Rem

Well, ok. Until scientists also find a way to

 measure spirit or chi/qi or whatever the energy may be,

 provided it exists, then there isn't much to say

for proof. Their experimentation on brain electrochemistry

might be like someone experimenting with water.

 Until the power produced from it's steam was harnessed

 and measured, who could say that there was energy in

 water. The idea of using steam for industrial work took

 a long time to be born.

SS

COMF

Do Atheist have Near Death Experiences?

Dunno. Do Christians ever have near life experiences?

metatron

Read the book, "Best Evidence" by Michael Schmicker

It has a humorous NDE with an atheist lady.

It points out holes in scientists theories about NDE's

metatron

blondie

I always think that whatever is happening when people approach clinical death but return is a chemical reaction. How people interpret that experience depends on their religious background (including the background of the communit(ies) they grew up in) or lack of religious background. I don't know of any large communities of atheists so I would think even atheists are indirectly affected by their religious surroundings.

I hate to use a TV show that few may have seen, but Babylon 5 had an alien group called the Vorlons that kept themselves hidden from all the other aliens. When one finally, came out of his suit to save a character on the show, every alien race saw something different, an angel to the humans, but something else but similar to each other alien race based on their history.

People tend to try to interpret the unknown with what they have already experienced. I am not surprised that these chemical processe are given a spiritual aspect.

Do Atheist have Near Death Experiences?

Share this