Atheists in Foxholes

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Many believers use the argument "There are no atheists in foxholes" when debating about “faith”.

They want to show that in extreme and hopeless situations, people can see how small, weak, helpless they really are and then they beg for help and believe in God.

This statement is in fact very true for many people.

However, this statement cannot be used to prove that atheism is wrong or atheists are shallow and weak.

This statement only describes a natural weakness in human. When facing danger, survival instinct within a person makes them need and want to be protected and saved. In desperate situations, they tend to think of some supernatural being who is much mightier than themselves.

In fact, the above statement proves that the concept "God" (and from there, the formation of religion) originated from fear.

Hitler once said to Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Bavaria in 1936 that "Man cannot exist without belief in God. The soldier who for three and four days lies under intense bombardment needs a religious prop."

"A religious prop". This shows Hitler was very clever when he made and used this observation to manage his soldiers' mentality. However, a faith originated from fear is only a tool produced from need. It is not a conviction coming from a genuine heart, it is not from a noble spiritual ideal. Some atheists compare religious faith with a crutch; if this comparison is appropriate then perhaps this is a case where it could apply best. Believers should not promote the comparison between their religious faith with a crutch though (because they are unwittingly doing just that when bringing up the statement about "no atheists in foxholes")

Further more, the above statement does not apply to everyone. There have been many cases where devout believers one day while deeply suffering whatever they are suffering suddenly wake up to the fact that if there was really a loving and caring God as promised then they would not have been in such terrible situations. There are many soldiers after surviving horrifying battles suddenly realise that no compassionate omnipotent God would ever allow all the tragic killing to happen like what has been going on around them. These people from that moment throw away the delusion about God that they have cherished all their lives.

When anyone brings up the statement "There are no atheists in foxholes" to debate for the concept "faith" then perhaps they should be reminded that "there are people who do not need to be in foxholes yet spending their life forever crouching in fear”.

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