Changes in religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices following near-death experiences: An Australian study

Abstract

This study examined changes in religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices in the lives of 50 near-death experiencers. I attempted to clarify whether these changes were to greater religiousness or to a deeper spirituality. I found that before the near-death experience (NDE), my respondents were no more religious or spiritually inclined than the general Australian population. Following the NDE there was a statistically significant shift towards spiritu ality on most items investigated.

“I’m not afraid to die”: the loss of the fear of death after a near-death experience

“…In support of this, research has indicated a concomitant increase in afterlife beliefs amongst NDErs (Flynn, 1986;Grey, 1985;Greyson & Stevenson, 1980;Ring, 1980;Sabom, 1982;Sutherland, 1990). van Lommel et al (2001) discovered NDErs were likely to report a new or strengthened belief in the afterlife, in comparison to the non-NDE control group (who also came close to death).…”

“…Furthermore, this loss of the fear of death appears to be maintained over time (Sabom, 1982;Sutherland, 1990;van Lommel et al, 2001). In their seminal longitudinal study of NDEs in cardiac arrest survivors, van Lommel et al (2001) found the majority of the 62 patients reporting an NDE after cardiac arrest, and who were interviewed shortly after the experience, did not indicate any fear of death.…”

“…Such experiences are evident in the written and oral histories of the Sumerians and classical Greeks (Schroter-Kunhardt, 1993), while more recent scholarly literature provides record of NDEs in modern cultures like Thailand (Murphy, 2001), Italy (Giovetti, 1982), India (Pasricha, 1993), Germany (Knoblauch, Schmied, & Schnettler, 2001), United Kingdom (Parnia et al, 2014), Australia (Sutherland, 1990) and New Zealand (Tassell-Matamua & Murray, 2014). Modern resuscitation techniques have improved survival rates from near-fatal encounters, which likely accounts for the increased reports of NDEs by survivors in recent times.…”

“…Sabom also conducted a six-month follow-up with the Death Anxiety Scale (Templer, 1970) and Death Concern Scale (Dickstein, 1972), finding near-death experiencers (NDErs) still scored significantly lower on death fear, than non-NDErs. Sutherland (1990) and Flynn (1986) reported a 100% decreased fear of death in NDE participants. Sutherland claimed before the NDE, over three-quarters of her respondents said they feared death.…”

Experiências de quase morte em parada cardíaca: implicações para o conceito de mente não local

“…However, prior religious belief or knowledge of NDEs is not correlated with having an NDE 12,14,15,17 , although cultural and religious factors may influence the interpretation of the experience 28 . Regarding this issue, NDErs show significant belief in life after death following their NDE that they did not have before the experience 10,15,25,29 . Also, children, who are presumably less culturally conditioned with fewer expectations about death, describe NDEs that are similar to adults' descriptions 30 .…”