atheists and nonreligious people report the same core elements

“And I, it's very profound for me because before all this happened, I was wavering back and forth for 20 years between being an agnostic and an atheist. I didn't believe really in any of this stuff. I didn't believe in a spiritual realm. I didn't believe in any kind of a higher consciousness or a deity or anything like that. I just believed material, you know, this is all that existed, and then when we die, that was it.”13:21

“So prior to my NDE, I was a devout atheist. My family were atheists, and then having this experience, it changed everything for me, and I had to believe in that greater energy, in that greater universe, which people call God or can call universe, but it changed me to a very spiritual person, and I get so much strength knowing that we all have a soul family.”12:42

“Before, I didn't believe that there is life after death and that religions and other spiritual currents only want to calm people down in order to avoid fear. Meanwhile, however, I have experienced death very differently, that is to say, that there is a life after death, and now I no longer feel a fear of death.”14:36

“So, prior to my NDE, I was a devout atheist. My family were atheists. And then having this experience, I, it changed everything for me. And I had to believe in that greater energy, in that greater universe, which people were called God or can call Universe. But it changed me to a very spiritual person.”36:14

“It's a little hard to quantify. I mean, I think the most important changes that come down in me were, was an entirely different feeling regarding life and death. And and just that, well, once was faith. And I said, I have faith. But there's a God. I choose to believe that there's a God. I choose to follow God. But after this NDE experience, it stopped being faith and started being knowledge. So I no longer have to wrestle with, 'Is there a God? Is there a heaven?' I know there is. I've been there. So that has really changed my whole approach to existence, because there is that solid rock of knowledge there that this is real, that there is something far bigger and far better that is Force.”27:21

“I experienced, and what I remembered when I awoke,  were not rationalized through a religious filter. I was not in great grief over the loss of my  mom and considered her passing as relief from her physical pain after six months of fighting  blood cancer. I was not in the habit of prayer. I believed that once you die, you are dead—no  ghosts, no spooky stuff, no devil, God, Jesus, Buddha, or any other entity was in my thinking.  If anything, I had considered the physical properties of materials and considered that great  emotional suffering could create energies that”4:30

“More than 90% of near-death experiencers across all history, across all belief systems, no matter if they were previously an agnostic or atheist or whatever religion, more than 90% of them after this experience come back not just believing, but knowing the reality of a loving force at the core of the universe.”7:43

“So, your, what is your philosophy of life now? What is your religious belief, your philosophical belief after this experience?”102:09

“So, I like I told you before, I was an atheist before my near-death experience. If I could not see it, touch it, feel it, smell it, or hear it, as far as I was concerned, it did not exist.”3:13

“Up until this point in my life, I had been an agnostic, probably maybe an atheist. I don't know. I kind of figured it was lights out after you died. I was raised an evangelical Christian. My mom was a minister, but that just never really resonated with me. I never really subscribed to it. I believed in God, but I really just didn't believe in much else.”7:07

“Prior to your experience, did you have any kind of belief or thoughts on an afterlife?”37:58

“in a state of meditation. This event this encounter made me so happy as far as all my ancestors were actually atheist. That's how it has always been told to me. And they didn't believe in God or anything supernatural. Nor did they believe in something else to come after earthly life. They just only used to say that there is nothing after earthly life and that this is the end. And it made me so happy that God is just only looking into people's hearts. Even accepting those people who weren't allowed to get to know him. And it made”25:57

“It was a moment of awe and introspection, as I had previously held a staunch disbelief in anything beyond the realm of life itself. My scientific mindset, steadfast and unyielding, had prevented me from entertaining notions of an afterlife or the existence of a higher power.”1:04

“And other things changed about me afterwards. I absolutely lost my fear of death. I knew that all of us would live on after our body stop, including me. I also became much, much, much more compassionate and understanding and tolerant of people with different religious and spiritual views, because I realized we're all trying to understand the same one truth. It's like trying to climb a mountain from different perspectives; it looks different at the bottom, but when you get to the top, we're all trying to reach the same peak, which is to realize our Oneness with our divine source, with the one higher power underlying the universe.”23:59

“One of the first things that became clear was the fact that many things that I'd only been allowed to believe from my Christian and religious background were confirmed. In other words, the idea that there is a hereafter, that there is a divine love, that other dimensions do exist and they welcome us when we leave this world.”17:12

“other side of my mom and looking and I felt great and I just it didn't I did not recognize I was in the spirit until I saw my body. It was less than a minute. It was seconds I would say maybe 20 seconds. So after that experience, you now are more curious about God because you knew there was an afterlife. >> Yes,, I'm, more I I'm knowledgeable now. I know that the life after death is real and it continues on and I want to know the creator and I want to know his name and I want to have relationship with him. Um”9:43