Do Atheists die more difficult than Believers

[Rlyeh]

Ignorance of the law does not mean you will not be found guilty if you transgress it. I am talking about our human laws. The laws of righteous living are imprinted by God into every humans consciousness, so if you go against your moral compass you are transgressing the will of God even if you have convinced yourself that God is a fairy tale.

My moral compass or yours?

[+DieChecker]

Also it says straight is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. It seems that you have to live a certain way to get to special places after death, or else you shall not fit in.

I personally think that applies to those who find their Own way into Heaven. Many Christians are such. Those who follow what Jesus Taught, and not necessarily what today's Churches require.

Everyone else has to wait millennia till Judgement Day and the review of their life and their chance to ask for Forgiveness and Salvation.

Edited September 3, 2014 by DieChecker

[Four Winds]

Death is a scary thing. I can understand someone wanting to believe in some sort of afterlife and easily get sucked into a religion. It is a bit sad though that the time they spent alive was wasted believing in a man made delusion just to have some comfort when they die.

[Alan McDougall]

Often last words sum up a person’s life… it is interesting to see the difference in how people who know the grace and mercy of God move on from this world, while those who defy our Lord start the first of the painful toil that will now define them.

When Christians die, they often report, on their death bed, of seeing angels. Quite often they hear the most beautiful singing they’ve ever heard. The closer to death, the more beautiful the sound. There is only one book that deals authoratively with life after death, and it’s your Bible.

Maybe the list below speaks for itself

http://www.oh-mag.com/in-between-studies/last-words/

Last words of believers

The famous Christian, Dwight Moody awoke from sleep shortly before he died and said:

“Earth recedes. Heaven opens before me. If this is death, it is sweet! There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.”

And Moody’s son said, “No, no, Father. You’re dreaming.”

And Moody replied, “I am not dreaming. I have been within the gates. This is my triumph; this is my coronation day! It is glorious!”

President George Washington:

“Doctor, I am dying, but I am not afraid to die.” He

folded his hands over his chest and said: “It is well.”

Augustus Toplady, preacher and author of the hymn, “Rock of Ages”:

“The consolations of God to such an unworthy wretch are so abundant that He leaves me nothing to pray for but a continuance of them. I enjoy heaven already in my soul.”

Lady Glenorchy:

“If this is dying, it is the pleasantest thing imaginable.”

John Pawson, minister:

“I know I am dying, but my deathbed is a bed of roses. I have no thorns planted upon my dying pillow. In Christ, heaven is already begun!”

Adoniram Judson, American missionary to Burma:

“I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school. I feel so strong in Christ.”

John A. Lyth:

“Can this be death? Why, it is better than living! Tell them I die happy in Jesus!”

Martha McCrackin:

“How bright the room! How full of angels!”

Mary Frances:

“Oh, that I could tell you what joy I possess! The Lord does shine with such power upon my soul!”

Sir David Brewster, scientist and inventor of the kaleidoscope:

“I will see Jesus; I shall see Him as He is! I have had the light for many years. Oh how bright it is! I feel so safe and satisfied!”

Charles Spurgeon, beloved preacher and author, on his deathbed: “I can hear them coming!” He sat straight up in bed and asked: “Don’t you hear them? This is my coronation day. I can see the chariots, I’m ready to board.”

Sir Michael Faraday, (brilliant English scientist 1791 – 1867), was asked when he was near death: “What are your speculations now?” He answered: I have no speculations. I rest upon Jesus Christ who died, and rose again from death.”

John Knox, Scottish clergyman and founder of the Presbyterian Church was asked on his deathbed: “Hast thou any hope?” Unable to speak, John Knox slowly lifted up his arm, and with his index finger pointed heavenward, and with a peaceful countenance he died.

had gone and hope and joy had taken its place.

In Contrast:

Last words of some famous atheists and non-believers:

Clarence Darrow, the Scopes Trial lawyer in the famous 1925 debate, while on his deathbed asked several clergymen to “please intercede for me with the Almighty. During my life I have spoken many times against Christians, and I now realize that I may have been wrong.”

Edward Gibbon, author of the ‘Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire’:

“All is lost, irrecoverably lost. All is dark and doubtful.”

David Hume:

The atheist died in utter despair with an awful scene crying out, “I am in the flames!”

Karl Marx:

Was on his deathbed surrounded by candles burning to Lucifer and screamed at his nurse who asked him if he had any last words, “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.”

Nietzsche:

Died insane, completely out of his mind.

Sir Thomas Scott:

“Until now I thought there was no God or hell. Now I know there is both, and I am doomed.”

Joseph Stalin (who murdered many millions of his countrymen), while on his deathbed – as related by his daughter Svetlana to Malcolm Muggeridge: “He suddenly sat up, groaned, shook his fist at the ceiling as if he could see beyond it, then fell back and died.”

William Pitt, British statesman & youngest recorded prime minister: “I throw myself on the mercy of God, through the merits of Jesus Christ.”

Sir Francis Newport allowed his name to be used on a brand of cigarettes. On his deathbed he cried out: “Oh eternity. Oh eternity.” And he uttered a groan of inexpressible horror as a cried out, “Oh the insufferable pains of hell, forever, forever!”

Voltaire, one of history’s best known atheists, often stated that “by the time I’m buried, the Bible will be non-existent.” His last words were: “I am abandoned by God and man! I shall go to hell! O’ Jesus Christ!” His condition had become so terrible that his associates were afraid to approach his bedside, and as he passed away, his nurse said that for all of the wealth in Europe, she would never watch another infidel die. A few years after he died the Geneva Bible Society purchased Voltaire’s home and turned it into a print shop to print Bibles.

Julian the Apostate (Roman emperor who hated Christians), was leading his forces in the battle for Persia in 363 AD. He was mortally wounded, and as he lay dying on the battlefield, picked up some of his own blood, mingled with dirt, flung it skyward and said: “Thou hast conquered oh Galilean.” (a reference to Jesus).

Robert Ingersoll, noted lecturer and avowed anti-Christian on his deathbed said: “Life is the cold and barren value between two eternal peaks. I strive in vain to see beyond the distant height. I cry out and the only answer I hear is the echo of my empty wail.”

Sir Julian Huxley, English evolutionist, biologist and staunch atheist, on his deathbed: “So it is true after all, so it is true after all.”

Queen Elizabeth I, grabbed he physician by the sleeve and pulled him down over her bed and said: “Half of the British Empire for six month of life.” He could not even give her six minutes and she died.

Thomas Payne, originally one of America’s great patriots in his book: “The age of reason” ridiculed the Christian religion. He slowly lost his friends. He left America and while in England came to a premature death. On his deathbed he said to a friend ‘I would give worlds if I had them, if the ‘Age of Reason’ had never been published. Oh Lord help me. Christ help me. You stay with me. It is hell to be left alone.”

Adams, the infidel said:

“I’m lost, lost, lost. I am damned forever.” His agony was so great that as he died, he tore the hair from his head.

Sir Walter Scott the skeptic said: “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.”

Charles Darwin, on his deathbed: “I regret that I suggested a theory, and that gullible men gobbled it up, as though it were fact. I never intended that.”

[Arbenol]

Maybe the list below speaks for itself

http://www.oh-mag.co...ies/last-words/

Charles Darwin, on his deathbed: “I regret that I suggested a theory, and that gullible men gobbled it up, as though it were fact. I never intended that.”

Or maybe it doesn't.

Charles Darwin: "I am not the least afraid to die."

http://en.wikiquote....wiki/Last_words

http://www.corsinet....andy/dying.html

You should probably check more than one (clearly biased) source before posting things as fact.

Edit to add:. I just spent five minutes checking out some of those other quotes. Pitt, Voltaire and Elizabeth I - all wrong.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Arbenol68

[Alan McDougall]

Or maybe it doesn't.

Charles Darwin: "I am not the least afraid to die."

http://en.wikiquote....wiki/Last_words

http://www.corsinet....andy/dying.html

You should probably check more than one (clearly biased) source before posting things as fact.

'Charles Darwin: "I am not the least afraid to die." how do you know that this supposed quote by Darwin is factual? And if he indeed said that, in my opinion he was lying.

And I have checked in more than one place and have come up with the exact same last words of Charles Darwin.

You should know it is impossible to verify these supposed comments of dying people and your source might be correct or mine might be correct or neither the two of us correct. We would need a time machine to go back to be absolutely sure of the truth of these quotes.

Maybe we should look at the last word and death bed scenes of our own close family members to see if there is any justification to the idea that believers die more comfortably and peacefully than our atheist family members.

I do know for sure that the atheist members of my family were more frightened of death and that fear made their dying process profoundly more difficult. One aunt of mine, who had completely lost her faith in God, held onto life far too long, leading to much suffering of her own and the family who had to look at her slow deterioration before she finally let go and let God have his way.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Alan McDougall

[Arbenol]

You should know it is impossible to verify these supposed comments of dying people and your source might be correct or mine might be correct or neither the two of us correct. We would need a time machine to go back to be absolutely sure of the truth of these quotes.

But you were supplying them to support your argument, so it's only fair that your sources should be scrutinised.

In the OP you said:

I have done some research on the topic of comparing the lasts words and dying process of well known atheists and those of well known Christians/believers in the Abrahamic God.

I don't think that copying and pasting from a website called "Oh My Awesome God" constitutes 'doing research'.

[quiXilver]

The problem with internet quotes is that it's so hard to verify their source. Abraham Lincoln

[Rlyeh]

What complete and utter bull****. You're getting your information from a Christian propaganda site that uses the Darwin deathbed confession hoax.

[Arbenol]

'Charles Darwin: "I am not the least afraid to die." how do you know that this supposed quote by Darwin is factual? And if he indeed said that, in my opinion he was lying.

I see you added this bit later.

The fact is, I have no way of knowing what his last words were. And neither do you. Nor can you say he was " lying". All you achieve with saying so is to illuminate your own bias.

But, if you're going to use last words as your argument you really should do your best to cross reference your information. And try to avoid clearly biased sources. If you don't, you shouldn't be surprised when you're called on it.

[Likely Guy]

As an indifferent agnostic; I don't know, I don't care.

I didn't fear birth, why should I fear death?

[Rlyeh]

If the backwards muppets of Answers in Genesis could examine and conclude Darwin's deathbed confession is very likely false, that doesn't say much for the rest.

https://answersingenesis.org/creationism/arguments-to-avoid/darwins-deathbed-conversion-a-legend/

[Beany]

I don't care, I just hope I go in my sleep. I'll worry about the afterlife if I wake up after death. If not then there's nothing to worry about then is there.

That's pretty much what my dad said when he refused the last rites. As it turned out he didn't die then. He was a lifelong atheist, had many friends, was instantly loved by every two year old in his presence, was kind, compassionate, funny, and generous. There was standing room only at his eulogy. Religion doesn't comfort everyone nor does everyone find it necessary for happiness and fulfillment, whether living or dying; i include myself in this category. And I'm much more concerned about how i live my life than how i die or what happens when i die. Ironic that an atheist like my dad lived a more moral life than many Christians, because he believed it the right thing to do, not in order to ease his death or get to heaven.

[+DieChecker]

Death is a scary thing. I can understand someone wanting to believe in some sort of afterlife and easily get sucked into a religion. It is a bit sad though that the time they spent alive was wasted believing in a man made delusion just to have some comfort when they die.

Well religion doesn't only comfort a person when they are dying. It comforts them 24-7-365. Unless they've broken some taboo, and feel bad about it.

[+DieChecker]

You know who would die in more craziness then an atheist? A broken theist, who believes enough to believe that something they've done is going to result in Eternal Punishment. If they believe there is NO Forgiveness, they are going to be really crazy not to die.

At least if an atheist is dying, they just go away and cease to participate, but a bad theist is going to suffer for all time.

[Tiggs]

'Charles Darwin: "I am not the least afraid to die." how do you know that this supposed quote by Darwin is factual?

Mostly because it was reported by his son Francis, who was at his deathbed. And confirmed independently by his wife, Anne, also at his deathbed.

If you have more reliable witnesses to the event in question - please feel free to produce them.

And if he indeed said that, in my opinion he was lying.

As strange as it might seem to you, not everyone is afraid of Death.

[Odin11]

I read a quote a while ago that changed my view of death as an atheist the second I read it.

“Why should I fear death?

If I am, then death is not.

If Death is, then I am not.

Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?" -Epicurus

I don't know why this quote had such a profound effect on me. It just makes sense.

[White Crane Feather]

Why wouldn't they be skeptical if they found themselves floating? There are far more vivid alien abduction stories than NDEs, and the former doesn't involve the confounding factor of what a dying brain experiences. Are you likewise unskeptical of alien abduction stories? Our brain can create all kinds of experiences as a result of dreams, mental illnesses, and psychedelics, all of which I presume you believe are just under the 'brain hypothesis', but the properly skeptical should view the NDE as something entirely different? Why would that be if so?

Ha agreed, but it's hard to keep in mind when you're dreaming or tripping that what you are experiencing is not real either.

I don't know why you use phrases like 'die-hard skeptic' on this particular subject, there doesn't seem to be anything extreme at all about the skepticism involved. What exactly is this great evidence that only the die-hard skeptic would deny? Here's the score as I see it currently, please feel free to add evidence I may well be unaware of it:

Evidence:

- Some people have experiences when their brains are dying involving feelings of peace, love and oneness, and see an interact with dead family members. (And some people have entirely other experiences, some scary, some bizarre, that have nothing in common with this experience. And some have no experience at all)

Die-hard skeptic: These experiences may be an effect of a dying brain.

Alternative: These experiences may be indicative that we all have a spirit component to 'us', that lives on after we die in the some realm where all/some who have died before us currently dwell, and that is possibly eternal.

The Alternative there is a pretty huge claim based on what seems to be very little to support it. I haven't even mentioned that coincidentally the Alternative is also something that the NDE-er usually just happens to want to be true, which doesn't help.

It's not a big claim if you have seen it and had personal verifications. I realize your position, but the rules of evidence do not apply to one's personal exspereinces. If I see a pink unicorn and have touched it but then it's gone, I'm not going to accept someone else telling me it wasn't real. I realize they can't believe me, I wouldn't believe me, but that does not change the reality of my exsperience. It then becomes the bigger claim from my perspective that pink unicorns don't exist. Of course seeing isn't always beleiving, but seeing, touching, hearing, seeing the foot prints, and living through the event is pretty convincing.

By "diehard" I'm referring to those people that are so convinced that something dosnt exist almost no evidence will convince them. If you are willing to right off an NDE where you floated into another room over heard a conversation and latter verified it as a hullucination. What can be done? A spirit world is so different than this one the only way to verify it is through circumstance. It's obviously a non physical place, so why are skeptics asking for physical evidence.

Without rehashing to much stuff that has already been debated, we know that the dying brain hypothesis is wrong. It takes many areas of the brain to operate properly to have a cohesive cognitive event. A memory of seeing something, hearing something, speach, touch, warmth, etc etc. All require a very complicated interaction of various parts of the brain. The smoking gun is that we know for a fact that the brain needs blood pressure to accomplish these things. Upon cardiac arrest EEGs and blood pressure drops to zero. We study the brain using radioactive dies injected into the subject. Blood concentrates where it's needed to fuel electrical activity. Study after study on animals and some humans has shown us these areas of the brain are shut down after cardiac arrest. There simply is no possible physiological way to have a cognitive experience once your heart stops. No one doubts that NDEs are real exsperiences, the nature of the event is what is unknown and impossible according to well known physiology.

Even after all this skeptics still say there is no evidence!!!! There are mountains of it. Proof? No. But you can prove that you are sentient either. Nor can we prove there is dark matter all we can do is look at its gravitational effects. That's all we can do with something like a spiritual side of existence as well is to observe its effects and the trail it leads in the physical world. In this particular case it's about our minds and consciousness. Since science doesn't accept what the mind preceives, we are left at an impassioned and trying to rely on things like the aware study. Even if it comes back with positive results diehards will creatively tear it apart to maintain their status quo. It takes time for paradime change and it's usually once the old guard dies off.

By the way. You can't want anything after your heart stops. That to is a complicated brain function requiring blood flow. Even the act of having a desire is completely impossible when your EEG is reading nothing.

Now there is merit to the recovering brain hypothesis. Once we get the ability to monitor someone's experiences we will be able to see if the event is happening during recovery or not. It's not that far off. We can almost do It now if we put a recovering patient in a brain imager. The problem is that it's very unethical, and is something that probably has to be done on animals.

[+Link of Hyrule]

A friend recently updated Facebook something along these lines:

Why worry? You're either sick or you're well. If you're well then fine, if you're sick you're either going to get better or you won't. If you get better you have nothing to worry about, if you die then you only have to worry about either going to haven or hell. If you go to heaven you don't have anything to worry about, if you go to hell you'll be too busy shaking hands with everyone you've pretty much known. So don't worry!

Even atheists will find comfort in death, in most cases at least. The current Charles Darwin quote issue was, I thought, a non-issue, with his children denying the death bed confession, and Lady Hope's claims called as lie. Besides, the "I wish I kept silent on my theories and stopped people from calling them fact" line sound awfully convenient for a Creationist argument

[Guest]

I am Atheist and have absolutely no fear of death (just painful passing). I have no fear of what will happen after death because to my understanding it is impossible to know and rather pointless to dwell on things which can never be resolved.

Br Cornelius

[Jeanne dArc]

How do you know this? I think that statement is very wrong, most Russians soldiers, were not "Godless" most had a real belief in God but were forced to say they were atheists in fear of their lives from the communist state.

And how do you know that??

In my opinion God does not take sides in human conflict, to do that he would have to take away our freewill.

But he did that all the time in the Bible: the Tanakh is almost entirely God taking sides in human conflicts.

[Jeanne dArc]

Last words of some famous atheists and non-believers:

Clarence Darrow, the Scopes Trial lawyer in the famous 1925 debate, while on his deathbed asked several clergymen to “please intercede for me with the Almighty. During my life I have spoken many times against Christians, and I now realize that I may have been wrong.”

I can't seem to verify this quotation: given it can only be found on a single, highly-biased Christian website, I'm inclined to think it is a forgery. It certainly would appear to be contradicted by his obituary: http://www.nytimes.c.../bday/0418.html

Edward Gibbon, author of the ‘Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire’:

“All is lost, irrecoverably lost. All is dark and doubtful.”

This is also unsubstantiated, and appears to only exist in a Christian book of "quotations", many of which are of greatly dubious origin.

David Hume:

The atheist died in utter despair with an awful scene crying out, “I am in the flames!”

This is also unsubstantiated.

Karl Marx:

Was on his deathbed surrounded by candles burning to Lucifer and screamed at his nurse who asked him if he had any last words, “Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough.”

In fact, Marx died March 14, 1883, of bronchitis and pleurisy, and was found dead in his armchair: "peacefully gone to sleep", as his close friends attest.

Nietzsche:

Died insane, completely out of his mind.

His mental health in his last days has no bearings on the merits of his philosophy. This is irrelevant.

Sir Thomas Scott:

“Until now I thought there was no God or hell. Now I know there is both, and I am doomed.”

Again, I can find no substantiation for this that is not exclusively on propagandistic Christian websites: also, there appear to be several versions of this "quotation". This is certainly a forgery.

Joseph Stalin (who murdered many millions of his countrymen), while on his deathbed – as related by his daughter Svetlana to Malcolm Muggeridge: “He suddenly sat up, groaned, shook his fist at the ceiling as if he could see beyond it, then fell back and died.”

Odd, considering all reputable sources confirm that Stalin died in his sleep, alone in his own chambers, without any witnesses.

William Pitt, British statesman & youngest recorded prime minister: “I throw myself on the mercy of God, through the merits of Jesus Christ.”

There is no evidence that he was an atheist. And this quotation is an utter invention. There are two attributed last words of Pitt: "My country! Oh, my country!", or "I think I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies."

Sir Francis Newport allowed his name to be used on a brand of cigarettes. On his deathbed he cried out: “Oh eternity. Oh eternity.” And he uttered a groan of inexpressible horror as a cried out, “Oh the insufferable pains of hell, forever, forever!”

Odd that you'd quote this version, since there is a much more explicitly Christian-toned version circulating. Although this is also dubious: as it seems, again, to appear only in the Christian "quotations" book that your Edward Gibbon "quote" came from.

Edited September 3, 2014 by Jeanne dArc

[Jeanne dArc]

Voltaire, one of history’s best known atheists, often stated that “by the time I’m buried, the Bible will be non-existent.” His last words were: “I am abandoned by God and man! I shall go to hell! O’ Jesus Christ!” His condition had become so terrible that his associates were afraid to approach his bedside, and as he passed away, his nurse said that for all of the wealth in Europe, she would never watch another infidel die. A few years after he died the Geneva Bible Society purchased Voltaire’s home and turned it into a print shop to print Bibles.

Voltaire was almost certainly not an atheist. He was seemingly a deist (not Christian, but not atheist). As for the "Bible will be nonexistent" quote, it can only be found on those same Christian sites: it is unsubstantiated. There are a great many differing narratives of Voltaire's death, each of which appear biased: though the account given by his close followers appears the most plausible, which claims his final utterance was: "Now is not the time for making new enemies."

Julian the Apostate (Roman emperor who hated Christians), was leading his forces in the battle for Persia in 363 AD. He was mortally wounded, and as he lay dying on the battlefield, picked up some of his own blood, mingled with dirt, flung it skyward and said: “Thou hast conquered oh Galilean.” (a reference to Jesus).

In fact, Julian was wounded by a spear which damaged his liver and intestinal system: he did not die immediately, and was treated intensively by his personal doctor Oribasius. He died three days later of a hemmorage, in his sleep. No last words are recorded.

Robert Ingersoll, noted lecturer and avowed anti-Christian on his deathbed said: “Life is the cold and barren value between two eternal peaks. I strive in vain to see beyond the distant height. I cry out and the only answer I hear is the echo of my empty wail.”

Ingersoll also died in his sleep, without recorded last words, of congestive heart failure.

Sir Julian Huxley, English evolutionist, biologist and staunch atheist, on his deathbed: “So it is true after all, so it is true after all.”

Given I'm an evolutionary biologist myself, and studied the Huxleys quite extensively back in school, I can disregard this one more completely than almost any of the others. This is nonsense.

Queen Elizabeth I, grabbed he physician by the sleeve and pulled him down over her bed and said: “Half of the British Empire for six month of life.” He could not even give her six minutes and she died.

This is entirely irrelevant. She was not an atheist, and she is known to have been driven to depression prior to her death by the deaths of her close friends. The original version of this quotation is "All my possessions for a moment of time." Though this is disputed by historians, and believed to be fictional.

Thomas Payne, originally one of America’s great patriots in his book: “The age of reason” ridiculed the Christian religion. He slowly lost his friends. He left America and while in England came to a premature death. On his deathbed he said to a friend ‘I would give worlds if I had them, if the ‘Age of Reason’ had never been published. Oh Lord help me. Christ help me. You stay with me. It is hell to be left alone.”

In fact, Thomas Paine (not "Payne") died at the age of 72, in New York City. Witnessed by Amasa Woodsworth, and reported by Dr. Philip Graves, Dr. Manley (his physician) asked Paine on his deathbed: "Do you wish to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" Paine eventually answered: "I have no wish to believe on that subject."

Thomas Nixon and Capt. Daniel Pelton, who attended Paine during his last sickness, wrote, signed and sent the following statement to William Cobbett: "All you have heard of his recanting is false."

Paine's executors, Walter Morton and Thomas Addis Emmet, both attended Paine, and both testified that no change took place in his opinions. Mr. Morton, who was present when he expired, says: "In his religious opinions, he continued to the last as steadfast and tenacious as any sectarian to the definition of his own creed."

There were twenty witnesses at his deathbed, all recorded: Madame Bonneville, Dr. Romaine, Dr. Manley, Rev. Cunningham, Rev. Milledollar, Mr. Pigott, Mrs. Redden, Willet Hicks, Mrs. Cheeseman, Amasa Woodsworth, Thomas Nixon, Captain Pelton, Walter Morton, Thomas Addis Emmet, Mrs. Few, Albert Gallatin, Mr. Jarvis, B.F. Haskin, Colonel Fellows, and Judge Hertell, many of them Christians, all affirming or admitting that Thomas Paine did not recant.

Adams, the infidel said:

“I’m lost, lost, lost. I am damned forever.” His agony was so great that as he died, he tore the hair from his head.

And, who is this "Adams", exactly? I can find no verification that this quotation is genuine, or can be attributed to any factual historical person of consequence.

Sir Walter Scott the skeptic said: “Until this moment I thought there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty.”

Sir Walter was a Presbyterian, not a skeptic. And his final words were in fact: "My dear, be a good man — be virtuous — be religious — be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here. ...God bless you all."

Charles Darwin, on his deathbed: “I regret that I suggested a theory, and that gullible men gobbled it up, as though it were fact. I never intended that.”

This is utter crap. Even the idiot creationists at Answers in Genesis know this to be utter crap. His last words were to his wife, Emma: "I am not the least afraid of death - Remember what a good wife you have been - Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me."

[Alan McDougall]

I am Atheist and have absolutely no fear of death (just painful passing). I have no fear of what will happen after death because to my understanding it is impossible to know and rather pointless to dwell on things which can never be resolved.

Br Cornelius

Oh!! Yes!! you do fear death most likely it is the worst fear you have, let someone put a gun to your head and threaten to kill you and you will quickly know your statement is nonsense.

[Rafterman]

Ignorance of the law does not mean you will not be found guilty if you transgress it. I am talking about our human laws. The laws of righteous living are imprinted by God into every humans consciousness, so if you go against your moral compass you are transgressing the will of God even if you have convinced yourself that God is a fairy tale.

Sorry, but if the god of the bible is setting your moral compass, then you my friend have one ****ed up moral compass given that the god of the bible is one of most despicable, warped, petty, non-moral, and downright evil entities ever envisioned.

Folks really need to read more about the god they are claiming to worship, but most just stop at the rainbows, puppy dog kisses, and unicorn farts part of the story. As the old song goes, "jesus loves the little children" except when he's murdering them in their sleep, killing them in the womb, and basically slaughtering them by the tens of thousands.