If repentance is the action of repenting; a sincere regret or remorse, then it seems to me that anyone, whether religious or not, can engage in it.
If it's done on one's deathbed, is it any less sincere? How can any of us tell the degree to which it is sincere? Does the timing of it mean that it is being used as a "get out of jail card" for the religious? How can you tell?
I don't doubt that fear of eternal damnation spurns some folks to beg forgiveness, but I distrust anyone who says that they are sure of another's motivation.
I wonder if positing knowledge of another's intentions, particularly the religious by the non-religious, isn't pure smugness.
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