According to this website: "Before his near-death experience, Howard Storm, a Professor of Art at Northern Kentucky University, was not a very pleasant man. He was an avowed atheist and was hostile to every form of religion and those who practiced it. He often would use rage to control everyone around him and he didn’t find joy in anything. Anything that wasn’t seen, touched or felt, he had no faith in. He knew with certainty that the material world was the full extent of everything that was. He considered all belief systems associated with religion to be fantasies for people to deceive themselves with. Beyond what science said, there was nothing else.
On June 1, 1985, at the age of 38, Howard Storm’s had a near-death experience due to a perforation of the stomach and his life was since forever changed. His near-death experience is one of the most profound, if not the most profound, afterlife experience I have ever documented. His life was so immensely changed after his near-death experience, he resigned as a professor and devoted his time attending the United Theological Seminary to become a United Church of Christ minister. The following is the account of Pastor Howard Storm's near-death experience reprinted by permission"
Note that Storm was the typical village atheist, a man hostile to any form of religion, spirituality and those who practiced it or believed in it (which implies that, like many other angry and supercilious atheists, Storm's hostility extended towards almost all the people on earth because most people ARE NOT atheists and have religious or spiritual beliefs. Bear in mind that atheists are very few in numbers and are considered, at least in USA, the most distrusted minority, precisely due to their hostility, egotism, materialism, supercilious mentality, arrogance, unpleasant attitude and resentiment towards the non-atheists. Not all atheists are like that, of course; I'm refering only to the irrational and bigoted ones, very common on the internet).
Many people who experience a NDEs become more spiritual and better persons, because their experience refutes the materialistic idea that we're our body alone. So, they realized that there may be a deeper reality, beyond the physical world we're familiar with. This implies a new perspective that includes reconsidering positions about God, death, spirituality and ethical values.
However, most of them feel not interest in organized religion; they become more spiritual, not more religious (in the sense of being supporters of any organized religion or faith).
But Storm case is different. He came from an extreme ideological faith (anti-spiritual atheism) to another faith based on organized religion (Christianity).
This is evidence of the power of our personal experience and emotions (specially extreme experiences like a NDE) in the formation of our worldview.
Worldviews are not chosen with independence of our deep beliefs and emotions; we tend to choose a worldview that FITS our more deep values and emotions. In the case of extreme atheists and pseudoskeptics, a common element seems to be intense hostility and resentiment towards any concept of religion, God and spirituality (and against people who hold such beliefs); and some evidence suggest that this kind of strong emotions has to do with negative experiences during childhood or adolescence.
David Leiter, who had first-hand experience with pseudoskeptics and atheists, could observe that "The reaction of those who have joined PhACT is however more dysfunctional. They have been wounded at a deeper level, to the extent that what was purported to be a valid philosophy of life, and in which they were heavily involved, turns out to be empty and useless, even damaging, in their eyes. Thus, they gravitate to what appears to them to be the ultimate non-faith-based philosophy, Science. Unfortunately, while they loudly proclaim their righteousness, based on their professed adherence to “hard science”, they do so with the one thing no true scientist can afford to possess, a closed mind. Instead of becoming scientifically minded, they become adherents of scientism, the belief system in which science and only science has all the answers to everything. This regrettable condition acts to preclude their unbiased consideration of phenomena on the cutting edge of science, which is not how a true scientist should behave"
Leiter expression "wound in a deeper level" is a good description of the emotional root of the hostility, unpleasant attitude, stubborness and arrogance of many atheists and pseudoskeptics. (This is the reason I've suggested that it's reasonable to keep these people away from you and your loved ones; not because they're atheists, but because they're hostile, negative and irrational, and any close relationship with this kind of people will put you in the risk of being victim of such negative emotions and hostility. If you're smart and wise, you have to anticipe this kind of potential and unnecessary risks and avoid exposing your neck to the wolves).
One consequence of this kind of hostility and resentiment is the use of ad hominem attacks, ridicule and condescending and supercilious attitude. In fact, Leiter commented "Anyone who has spent much time engaging members of Skeptics’ organizations knows about their strong inclination toward ridicule and ad hominem criticism of those with differing viewpoints. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that many members of PhACT have been rather offended by my position as someone who is skeptical of Skeptics. As the old adage states, “They can dish it out, but they can’t take it."
Another consequence of these negative emotions behind some extreme atheists and "skeptics" is elitistic and sectarian mentality, delusions and fantasies of superior intelligence and rationality, and the use of silly self-gratifiying labels like "brights", as you can see in this website.
As has argued Thomistic philosopher Edward Feser: "Several years ago, Dennett famously suggested in a The New York Times piece that secularists adopt the label "brights" to distinguish them from the religious believers. His proposal doesn't seem to have caught on (perhaps because a grown man who goes around earnestly chirping "I'm a bright" surely sounds rather like an idiot. But whatever the rhetorical deficiencies of "bright", it perfectly encapsulates the self-satisfaction of the secularist mentality: "We're intelligent, informed, and rational, while religious believers are stupid, ignorant, and irrational, not at all bright like us" (The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism, p. 3)
Due to their sectarian and elitistic mentality, dogmatic-ideological atheists and pseudoskeptics consider that, if you're not like them, then you're a kind of religious fundamentalist (and this explain why, when you discuss with them about psi or afterlife evidence, they reply with irrelevant comments on creationism, religion and God. They seem to be very obsessed with God, they have fixed ideas regarding Him and it's a very good example of their delusional and dysfunctional mind, which suggest, possibly, and in extreme cases, some kind of insanity or serious mental disorder)
Anyway, the bottom line is that you have to be familiar with the bigotry and hostility of some atheists and pseudoskeptics and its underlying emotional core, so you can understand Storm's anti-spiritual attitudes and behaviour previous to his NDE, and the impact of the latter in his emotions and, therefore, in his worldview.
In the following videos, Storm explains in detail his experience:
Links of interest:
-Article on Howard Storm's NDE
-My post atheist bigotry in Amazon.com
-Article "How to respond to a supercilious atheist"
-Survey showing that atheists are America's most distrusted minority.
-Website of "The Brights" (don't laught so loud please :-))
On June 1, 1985, at the age of 38, Howard Storm’s had a near-death experience due to a perforation of the stomach and his life was since forever changed. His near-death experience is one of the most profound, if not the most profound, afterlife experience I have ever documented. His life was so immensely changed after his near-death experience, he resigned as a professor and devoted his time attending the United Theological Seminary to become a United Church of Christ minister. The following is the account of Pastor Howard Storm's near-death experience reprinted by permission"
Note that Storm was the typical village atheist, a man hostile to any form of religion, spirituality and those who practiced it or believed in it (which implies that, like many other angry and supercilious atheists, Storm's hostility extended towards almost all the people on earth because most people ARE NOT atheists and have religious or spiritual beliefs. Bear in mind that atheists are very few in numbers and are considered, at least in USA, the most distrusted minority, precisely due to their hostility, egotism, materialism, supercilious mentality, arrogance, unpleasant attitude and resentiment towards the non-atheists. Not all atheists are like that, of course; I'm refering only to the irrational and bigoted ones, very common on the internet).
Many people who experience a NDEs become more spiritual and better persons, because their experience refutes the materialistic idea that we're our body alone. So, they realized that there may be a deeper reality, beyond the physical world we're familiar with. This implies a new perspective that includes reconsidering positions about God, death, spirituality and ethical values.
However, most of them feel not interest in organized religion; they become more spiritual, not more religious (in the sense of being supporters of any organized religion or faith).
But Storm case is different. He came from an extreme ideological faith (anti-spiritual atheism) to another faith based on organized religion (Christianity).
This is evidence of the power of our personal experience and emotions (specially extreme experiences like a NDE) in the formation of our worldview.
Worldviews are not chosen with independence of our deep beliefs and emotions; we tend to choose a worldview that FITS our more deep values and emotions. In the case of extreme atheists and pseudoskeptics, a common element seems to be intense hostility and resentiment towards any concept of religion, God and spirituality (and against people who hold such beliefs); and some evidence suggest that this kind of strong emotions has to do with negative experiences during childhood or adolescence.
David Leiter, who had first-hand experience with pseudoskeptics and atheists, could observe that "The reaction of those who have joined PhACT is however more dysfunctional. They have been wounded at a deeper level, to the extent that what was purported to be a valid philosophy of life, and in which they were heavily involved, turns out to be empty and useless, even damaging, in their eyes. Thus, they gravitate to what appears to them to be the ultimate non-faith-based philosophy, Science. Unfortunately, while they loudly proclaim their righteousness, based on their professed adherence to “hard science”, they do so with the one thing no true scientist can afford to possess, a closed mind. Instead of becoming scientifically minded, they become adherents of scientism, the belief system in which science and only science has all the answers to everything. This regrettable condition acts to preclude their unbiased consideration of phenomena on the cutting edge of science, which is not how a true scientist should behave"
Leiter expression "wound in a deeper level" is a good description of the emotional root of the hostility, unpleasant attitude, stubborness and arrogance of many atheists and pseudoskeptics. (This is the reason I've suggested that it's reasonable to keep these people away from you and your loved ones; not because they're atheists, but because they're hostile, negative and irrational, and any close relationship with this kind of people will put you in the risk of being victim of such negative emotions and hostility. If you're smart and wise, you have to anticipe this kind of potential and unnecessary risks and avoid exposing your neck to the wolves).
One consequence of this kind of hostility and resentiment is the use of ad hominem attacks, ridicule and condescending and supercilious attitude. In fact, Leiter commented "Anyone who has spent much time engaging members of Skeptics’ organizations knows about their strong inclination toward ridicule and ad hominem criticism of those with differing viewpoints. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that many members of PhACT have been rather offended by my position as someone who is skeptical of Skeptics. As the old adage states, “They can dish it out, but they can’t take it."
Another consequence of these negative emotions behind some extreme atheists and "skeptics" is elitistic and sectarian mentality, delusions and fantasies of superior intelligence and rationality, and the use of silly self-gratifiying labels like "brights", as you can see in this website.
As has argued Thomistic philosopher Edward Feser: "Several years ago, Dennett famously suggested in a The New York Times piece that secularists adopt the label "brights" to distinguish them from the religious believers. His proposal doesn't seem to have caught on (perhaps because a grown man who goes around earnestly chirping "I'm a bright" surely sounds rather like an idiot. But whatever the rhetorical deficiencies of "bright", it perfectly encapsulates the self-satisfaction of the secularist mentality: "We're intelligent, informed, and rational, while religious believers are stupid, ignorant, and irrational, not at all bright like us" (The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism, p. 3)
Due to their sectarian and elitistic mentality, dogmatic-ideological atheists and pseudoskeptics consider that, if you're not like them, then you're a kind of religious fundamentalist (and this explain why, when you discuss with them about psi or afterlife evidence, they reply with irrelevant comments on creationism, religion and God. They seem to be very obsessed with God, they have fixed ideas regarding Him and it's a very good example of their delusional and dysfunctional mind, which suggest, possibly, and in extreme cases, some kind of insanity or serious mental disorder)
Anyway, the bottom line is that you have to be familiar with the bigotry and hostility of some atheists and pseudoskeptics and its underlying emotional core, so you can understand Storm's anti-spiritual attitudes and behaviour previous to his NDE, and the impact of the latter in his emotions and, therefore, in his worldview.
In the following videos, Storm explains in detail his experience:
Links of interest:
-Article on Howard Storm's NDE
-My post atheist bigotry in Amazon.com
-Article "How to respond to a supercilious atheist"
-Survey showing that atheists are America's most distrusted minority.
-Website of "The Brights" (don't laught so loud please :-))
