Near death experience of Howard Storm

[Mister Agenda]

More like 'the cumulative weight of everything about this guy's claim that doesn't add up'.

What about his claim of being an atheist doesn't add up though? 

We agree that atheists come in all types - good or bad, dumb or smart, tolerant or hostile. All that is required is that you don't believe in God.

Again, I'm not saying he definitely wasn't exaggerating about his atheism (or maybe even making it up entirely though I doubt that), but not on the grounds that he somehow didn't fit a particular atheist mold.

There are three types of people who say they uses to be atheists. People who used to be atheists, people who are lying about having been atheists, and people who are sincerely mistaken about having been atheists. You can make a similar statement about people who say they used to be theists.

If it's a trivial claim, there's nothing wrong with taking them at their word, and in fact, that's the polite and empathetic thing to do. Since Storm stands to gain some cred with Evangelicals, which helps him make a living, his claim is not trivial.

If more details are given, they should be consistent with the claim. If they are not, doubting the claim is reasonable. If someone said they used to be a theist, and in the same breath talked about what an asshole they used to be when they were a theist, it would at least give you a 'wait, whut?' moment, right? Not that theists can't be assholes, but mere theism has no link to assholery, so it's odd to talk about them like they're connected.

Now, imagine that you've encountered people who think they were theists because they were given a wrong definition of theism. Like they thought a theist is someone who doesn't drink alcohol. And this misconception is pretty widespread. Would you not wonder if someone who says they used to be a theist but everything they say as if it's connected to their theism has nothing to do with theism is one of those people who only think they used to be a theist because they don't understand what theism is?

I've been a person who doesn't understand what atheism is. Though my belief in God was reduced to keeping a small space in my brain open in case it turned out it was real, I was sure I wasn't like those close-minded atheists who think they can know for sure there's no God. I was already an atheist, but I didn't know it yet.

And atheists in America often have a lot in common that relates to our atheism besides our lack of belief in God. Most of us used to be Christians, because it's still unusual for an American to be raised non-theistically, though we can expect a lot more of those in Gen Z. We're an 'out group' and it doesn't take long for most of us to realize that separation of state and religion is a good idea, it's rare to meet an American atheist who isn't also a secularist.

None of this means Storm wasn't an atheist. But he's atypical enough to raise the question. And I think if he was an atheist claiming to have been a theist until an NDE convinced him that there is no afterlife, and now that he's not a theist he's not checking out upskirt shots on the internet anymore, a lot of theists would be wondering if he even knows what a theist is.