Atheism the unscientific belief (part one, two, and three)

[Angrboda]

You spoke of people being brain dead.  This is nothing of the sort.  It's unclear what exactly is happening in near death experiences, but so far, all we have are anecdotes about "strange experiences" with no clear link to anything having to do with death and the afterlife.  Matter of fact, a third of all NDEs occur in people who aren't even remotely near death.  That alone suggests it is some natural, non-metaphysical event unrelated to the afterlife.

People Have NDE's While Brain Dead
http://www.near-death.com/science/eviden...-dead.html

" This operation, nicknamed "standstill" by the doctors who perform it, required that Pam's body temperature be lowered to 60 degrees, her heartbeat and breathing stopped, her brain waves flattened, and the blood drained from her head. In everyday terms, she was put to death. After removing the aneurysm, she was restored to life. During the time that Pam was in standstill, she experienced an NDE. Her remarkably detailed veridical out-of-body observations during her surgery were later verified to be true. Her case is considered to be one of the strongest cases of veridical (i.e., verified) evidence in NDE research "


"For practical purposes outside the world of academic debate, three clinical tests commonly determine brain death. First, a standard electroencephalogram, or EEG, measures brain-wave activity. A "flat" EEG denotes non-function of the cerebral cortex - the outer shell of the cerebrum. Second, auditory evoked potentials, similar to those [clicks] elicited by the ear speakers in Pam's surgery, measure brain-stem viability. Absence of these potentials indicates non-function of the brain stem. And third, documentation of no blood flow to the brain is a marker for a generalized absence of brain function.

 

But during "standstill", Pam's brain was found "dead" by all three clinical tests - her electroencephalogram was silent, her brain-stem response was absent, and no blood flowed through her brain. Interestingly, while in this state, she encountered the "deepest" NDE of all Atlanta Study participants."

Still not brain death. The reduced temperature provokes a bodily reaction geared toward preserving critical tissues such as the brain for as long as possible. It is designed to avoid any damage to the brain during the procedure. But you've zeroed in on one of the few so-called veridical NDEs. As noted on Wikipedia, "Reynolds could only give a report of her experience some time after she recovered from the anesthetic as she was still intubated when she regained consciousness. This would provide some opportunity for her to associate and elaborate upon the sensations she had experienced during the operation with her existing knowledge and expectations." Again, it's unclear what is happening in NDEs, and the few with tantalizing details such as this one are underwhelming.