After all, a genuine atheist must interpret such an event as a temporarily inexplicable hallucination, or a sudden psychotic break, or a clever technological trick - in short, as anything but evidence that atheism is false.
Let me see. I have a relative who is convinced that Holy Spirit has chosen him as one of the Anointed. Furthermore, this relative claims he has heard and seen the effects of demon activity. In most any other way I completely trust this relative. His conclusions are supernatural and based on the broad Western cultural belief in Christianity, the Bible, and more specifically in the teachings of the Watchtower Society. Does that make Jehovah's Witnesses the true religion after all? How can I help but to conclude that he has simply experienced hallucinations due to unknown causes, possibly sleep disorders and waking dreams. Some experts in meditation can develop abilities in lucid dreaming, waking dreams, "astral projection," and other feats of mental control. Many religious people around the world from diverse cultural backgrounds have used such meditation techniques to experience "the divine." Should one believe their experiences, then "the divine" is certainly a-religious. Then there are those who approach these same techniques and results from a secular standpoint and believe that the mind can alter its perception of reality due to meditative training, the use of certain drugs, or as a result of mental illness.
Dave
