Everything really did go slow motion for a moment. Or rather, it was like a tiny black-out, following by slo-mo, followed by another black-out (maybe I was blinking? I don't know) and then my car came to a rest in the middle of the highway. Every split second during this process I expected to feel the impact of another car, and my mind was utterly convinced that these were my last seconds. Even when my car finally stopped moving, I sat there for a few seconds expecting an on-coming car, unable to stop, to plow into me and finish it all.
When my mind finally came back to normal, I saw every car behind me had managed to come to a halt, some only about 15 feet away, and they were all staring at me. I put my car in park, started it again, waved kind of dazedly at the people behind me (once nice lady with wide eyes waved back) and I pulled away, realizing "I'm not dead. No one hit anyone. It's okay!" As I drove away, I started laughing, mostly because I couldn't believe that just happened. Absolutely the most amazing few seconds of my life. I really thought I was dead.
Here's the thing: nothing having to do with religion entered my mind at all. I didn't think about if there was a God, I didn't pray, I didn't have any thoughts of that nature. All I thought was "this is it... this is it... this is... not it? Wow... incredible." But no angels, devils, gods, or anything of that nature even occurred to me. Those of us who are atheists are atheists because we are atheists. It's just not there.
Doesn’t mean praying all the time.
On a lighter note for people who believe there are no atheists in foxholes, common terms heard during a firefight
Oh my God that was close ?
Jesus Christ where is our air support ?
My Lord did you see that ?
Just to mention a few.
Pasquale addressed this. If there is even the possibility - however remote - that after death we would face God and the final judgment, we would be wise to prepare for that unimaginable moment.