Atheist views on stigmata

[Riot Maker]

We discussed stigmata in my religion class the other day and watched a movie about. It was actually a documentry on the life of padre pio. He had stigamata on his hands for a number of years. For those who don't know what stigmata is, Stigmata are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus. Another famous case of this would be Emily Rose (excercism of Emily Rose). I just want to see what atheist think beacause i haven't discussed this phenomena with any atheist. Do you think it's just a hoax or is it paranormal or anything else?

[cuddleyperson]

In my view is most likely a minute of hoaxes and self inflicter's. Some people may suffer from mental illnesses or just desire attention. SO they cut themselves there. Also we saw two cases where one man had cuts on his palm where as another had them on his wrist. So again i think the differences mean it's faked. Also i mean it could be some people have genetic conditions, weakness of skin on the hands and feet or something, leading to small breaks and bleeding, with if religious they interpret as this stigmata.

[Moonbeam]

Beyond a doubt, it proves the existence of god. I mean, God, sorry.

[thegnome54]

A) Could be a simple hoax - stab yourself with a pencil a few times a day, and voila. B) Could be some strange medical affliction which happens to coincide with Christian mythology - perhaps Christ's wounds were even dreamed up after the fact, and inspired by this particular disease. This is extremely unlikely, though. C) Could be some subconscious manifestation of the sufferer's beliefs. I doubt any non-Jesus followers have ever had stigmata, for example (though I'm sure you would attribute this to Jesus not giving it to them because they wouldn't understand or something). Perhaps the sufferer inflicts these wounds during sleep or periods of unconsciousness, or perhaps their bodies begin to physically fail at these locations because of some intense expectation for that to occur (the brain can affect the rest of the body quite strongly in some cases). I think A and the during-sleep portion of C are the most likely explanations.