Mine wasn’t in such good condition. Photo by Andreas Reinhold.
I’m tripping up over a lot of really quite vicious anti-atheist posts recently and it seems I’m not the only one. Via Coturnix comes the news that the tired line “There are no atheists in foxholes” has been brought out for a fresh airing, this time by Lt. Gen. Blum who charmingly said “Agnostics, atheists and bigots suddenly lose all that when their life is on the line.” Obviously any slur there upon people serving their nation is entirely imaginary, though Archy disagrees. But is Lt. Gen. Blum or a satanist correct to say people abandon a lack of faith when the chips are down? It’s one of those things that sounds like it might make sense. If things are going really badly wouldn’t you take any option?
It might be difficult to know if it is true. I haven’t been in a foxhole for reasons explained by Coturnix at God, Country and Apple Pie nor shot at by trained professionals. The only people who have shot at me did so on a purely recreational basis. On the other hand I think I have had enough of a test to know I wouldn’t call on a god. In fact if I were concentrating on avoiding uncertain death it probably wouldn’t occur to me to call on a god for help.
The test came when I was driving my Volkwagen Beetle home a few years back. I’ll admit it was never a very good car. It’s hard to describe how bad it was. One day I came to the end of my shift in the shop I was working in and found I’d mislaid my car keys. They’d been in the ignition in the car park all day and no-one had touched it. I’d rebuilt a lot of it, but one evening I discovered I should have paid more attention to the brakes. I’d driven along a long straight and was approaching a corner. I put my foot on the brake to slow down and discovered that there must have been a crack somewhere because there was no brake. This was a bit of a surprise. I yanked the wheel to get round the corner. This put me in line with the oncoming traffic. I pulled it another way to ensure I got off the road. Just because I was having a bad day there was no need to spread it around.
This put me onto the verge and was heading to a deep ditch. It was only then I started thinking about the situation rather than just reacting. My first thought was that the ride was surprisingly smooth, but I was in the air for a bit of it. The other was that it would be an experience to tell my grandchildren about, followed by the thought that I was making quite an assumption. After that I concentrated on the best way to hit a deep hole and looking to see if I could hit a less deep bit.
What I didn’t have was any fear. I was terribly shaken after getting out of the car – but until I got onto my feet at the side of the road I was simply concentrating on how I could get out of the problem I was in. It never crossed my mind there was a supernatural being I could ask for help from.
In other situations my response has been the same. In Peru I got so ill that people stopped trying to sell me stuff in the street. I didn’t consciously think “There is no God and thus I shall book the first ticket out of here myself to refute him”. The possibility never arose. I know people have said that praying can’t do any harm. By the same logic you could try calling Donald Trump on a cellphone for some advice. If I’m watching someone tumble down a mountainside and I want to catch them before they fall over a cliff (done that but don’t be too impressed – the UK has very small mountains) then I’d rather concentrate on what I can do about the situation. If a friend suggested that closing ones eyes for a moment of silence was helpful I’d worry about his mental health.
I doubt the average Christian soldier throws down his weapon and begs for supernatural help when the bullets come flying. It seems odd to think that an atheist would. I’m pretty certain in a foxhole I would remain atheist because the God of Abraham occupies the same space in my personal cosmology that Ueuecoyotl occupies in yours. Unless you’re Aztec – in which case don’t you have amazing Gods?
Non-Britons wondering what a Vauxhall is can find out here, and then try pronouncing Vauxhall with a broad Welsh accent. The car I want right now is this one – purely for the amazing MPG obviously. 
