After finishing Tunnel Vision by Gary Braver yesterday afternoon, I posed a question to him on his Facebook page:
Okay. here’s an interesting topic to research and discuss:
Of the atheists who have HAD NDEs and returned to say they felt overwhelming love, how many have altered their perception of the divine?

I guess before I go any further I should say that Tunnel Vision is about a group of scientists studying whether there truly is an afterlife by inducing NDEs in subjects.  Gary doesn’t give definitive proof one way or the other.  He leaves the decision up to the reader.  When I finished the book, I decided the best way to describe it was with a quote from Thomas Aquinas:
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

Okay, back on topic.  Gary responded to my question posted above and directed me to A.J. Ayer who was a confirmed atheist.  Mr Ayer experienced an NDE and returned from this event with a bit more skepticism.
Ayer claimed to have seen a red light with other beings present.

This event slightly changed his perception of the existence of the afterlife.  I found an account of Somerset Maugham’s death online and it goes on to say:
When the famous English novelist, Somerset Maugham, was expiring in France, aged 91, he summoned the world-class atheist, A.J. Ayer, like a priest to his deathbed, to reassure him that there was no afterlife. Professor Ayer duly delivered the words of consolation Maugham longed to hear.

But when Ayer himself was dying two decades later, he wasn’t so sure. Having choked on a piece of smoked salmon that stopped his heart for at least four minutes, the famed philosopher saw, and heard things he had spent a lifetime denying.

I found the above at the website:
Near Death.com

Other data was gathered from Mindful Hack.  The Mindful Hack link is where Gary directed me.

My assignment to all of my readers if you choose to accept it, is to find other verifiable sources of other non believers who have experienced NDEs and returned with a changed perspective.

I’ll again refer to the Thomas Aquinas quote above:
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

The WHOLE notion of faith is to accept something without proof that it exists.  I believe faith can NOT and should NOT be proven by science.  What do you think?

Be Happy!  Be Well!  Be Positive!
Blessings to you all.
—
Chris