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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]FYI to the minister -- your last few communications have been with a different poster.

Getting back to your #4 - are you saying you regularly see "deathbed conversions"? Maybe not always to an established religion, but from people who have said they were atheists who when close to death say they they now believe in "god"?

If so, I'd imagine this would be a common occurrence in Hospice and would think there'd be a lot written about it.
I didn't find anything in a cursory google search.   Could  you direct me to information on this?

Thanks[/quote]

We were just talking about exactly this at my Hospice Center. There are four Ministers working at the center.  One of them is a more traditional protestant minister.  One is a Catholic Nun.  One is an AME Pastor.  And then me.  I am an Interfaith Minister.  I am one they call for anyone who isn't mainline Protestant or Catholic. I am trained to minister to people of all faiths.  I by default, get all the Atheists (along with a lot of people from Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist faiths).  To me, it's all the same.

I don't see what most people would describe as "deathbed conversions". Not in the sense of people asking for my help to "accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior".  I have literally never had that happen.  However, most of the people I spend time with at the end of life seem to become more spiritual as they approach their final days.  Maybe not religious, but certainly interested in talking about after-life, benevolent God, forgiveness, etc.

BUT - and I think this is really important - Keep in mind that I am a minister.  I visit everyone who comes into our center regardless of faith at least a couple of times.  I introduce myself, do a quick spiritual assessment, talk with the family, and let them know there is a minister on call any time they might need us.  I can't visit every patient every day.  We have 50 patients in our center and between 30 and 50 under Home Hospice Care.  A lot of my visits are at the request of the family or the patient.  If a patient has asked to see me or has asked that I remain bedside, chances are they are already thinking about religious or spiritual issues.  A person who is not interested in talking about religion is not likely asking to see a minister.

I guess my answer would be that in my experience even atheists who had no interest in talking with me when they were admitted to Hospice often ask for me when death becomes more of a reality.  But it's less about a "conversion" and more a need to express renewed interest in spirituality. Really it's not that different than the Catholic who hasn't been to Mass in many years - They will often ask me to give them Holy Eucharist.  Or they'll ask for a Priest to come in and give them Last Rites.

My discussion with my fellow Minsters led us to a couple of possible conclusions - The most obvious is that an atheist who was raised in a religious family finds comfort in the familiarity of religious sacrament.  Another is that the atheist who was raised in an evangelical church starts to question.  And that's scary.  I know how powerful those images of hell are.  I was raised Southern Baptist. The patient may be seeking that "Blessed Assurance".  But more often, I see patients who begin to experience and feel things they can't explain.  They aren't interested in hearing me read the Bible or preach.  But they do want to talk about God.  [/quote]

Thanks for this look into hospice life.   Please tell me, regarding my original question -- what do you know about writings on atheists regularly becoming more religious or spiritual in hospice.  [/quote]

Good afternoon.  Minster here.  I'm honestly a little afraid to answer.  I don't want to come across as condescending or as a "know it all" because that's not the person I ever want to be.  And I don't mean that in a snarky way.  I hold the belief that none of us really have the answers and none of us likely ever will. We are all on our own paths and I don't view mine as more sacred than anyone else's.   I was really trying to be clear about that.  I became a minister after many of years of religious and spiritual struggle.  I can't in integrity say that I was ever truly atheist.  Maybe at one point agnostic.  I worked in churches for several years.  I became a Hospice Minister after I walked with my best friend through her diagnosis of cancer, her treatments, and finally her death.  I struggled with trying to understand why a loving God would take someone like my friend.  She was so good.  She spent her life in service to others.  She was not perfect, but she lived her life with compassion and love for others.  She was a New Thought (Unity) Minster who truly loved everyone.  I could not figure out why God would take her and leave the guy that broke into my church and stole the computer, for example.  That struggle is what ultimately led me to work for Hopsice.

I feel strongly that our life experiences shape our beliefs.  For the Christian to insist that Jesus is the only way ignores the very real effect of family and culture on religion.  If I had been born in Saudi Arabia, I would likely be Muslim for example.  We don't escape those early life experiences easily.  Most people are the religion they are because of their parents.

How does that answer your question?  People often (not always) become religious and/or spiritual when faced with a life crisis. Or, if they are already religious, they change their religious beliefs or reject religion altogether.  Death certainly qualifies as a life crisis both for the patient and for the family.  I'm not sure if you are asking for peer reviewed studies on religion and spirituality at death.  There have been many, many books written on the subject.  I'm not going to insult your intelligence by providing a list of google results.

My role at Hospice is not to "save" anyone.  First, I don't believe people need to be saved.  I believe every single person on this planet is inherently good.  And second, that's not what dying people need. And my primary role is to hold a space for a peaceful transition.  People who are at peace spiritually, die better.   We know this as fact.  That's why I have a job. We see less terminal restlessness, less struggle, and better pain control with people who are at peace spiritually.  An atheist who is completely at peace with his belief isn't struggling with issues of God and spirituality and therefore is unlikely to ask for a minister.  However, I have never spent time with a dying patient (and I have been with hundreds and hundreds of them) who did not want to talk about some aspect of spirituality in the weeks and months before death.  It's not about religion or Bible verses or salvation.  It's a need to make sense of a life.  It's a life review process that always seems to lead to spiritual discussion.  It's a need for discussion of big picture.  Of relationships.  Of forgiveness and closure.  And almost always of some type of "God".

Again, I'm simply sharing my personal (really important,  these are my own) experiences as someone who is with dying patients almost every single day.  The patient I was with about two hours ago was Buddhist.  He and his friend wanted me to share meditations on impermanence.  Many Buddhists would consider themselves atheists.  However, are they really?  If you think about the beliefs of the Mahayana Buddhist, for example, Spirit is a huge part of that tradition.  In sharing a meditation on impermanence, we are acknowledging that the body dies but the spirit remains. We are acknowledging a path towards goodness through repeated lifetimes.   He may not believe in a God as in a man with a beard sitting on a throne judging sin.  But I would argue that God for him is the process of rebirth.   (*I would like to add that I am not an expert in Buddhism.  As an interfaith minister I need to know a little about a lot of faith paths.)

I really, really hope I don't sound condescending this time.  I would ask the readers to understand that too often we lose tone in internet discussion.  I love to talk about spirituality and religion and apologize for taking so long to respond.  Obviously, my patients and their families take priority while I am at work.  Also, please remember that I am not interested in writing a peer reviewed paper on atheists and death.  There are many and you can find them with a simple google search.  I was simply sharing my personal experiences working with the dying.  Spirituality, God, religion, forgiveness, life-meaning, etc are always issues that come up with any patient well enough to talk.

[/quote]
Thanks for the thoughtful response.  I sense that you think and writer faster than I do, so I won't attempt to match your effort and may respond in bits and pieces.  You don't sound condescending.  You sound like a very sincere person who is trying not to be condescending and is not sure of having the right tools.

All atheists are not alike anymore than all religious people are.   Some of us, including me, do not relate to the word "spirituality."   I've heard it many times, of course, and used it in my religious upbringing, but when I thought about it, I didn't know what it meant.  It's a sense I don't have.  So speaking broadly about "spirituality" as if it's something everyone understands and experiences, like hunger or excitement,  inadvertently leaves out atheists like me.  We don't have it; we don't miss it; we don't seek it.[/quote]

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