There are no Atheists in Foxholes?

Recently, I made this statement to my 16 year old daughter, "Remember. There are no Atheists in Foxholes." She said, "What does that really mean?" I was so amazed she didn't get what it meant that I realized it was a generational difficulty. I think most people born before 1990 might get what this means. And people who grew up in the literal blood and guts on TV News and in the movies from World War II until about 1980 know what it means too. But the fact that my daughter didn't seem to have a clue sort of bothered me.

What "Remember. There are no Atheists in foxholes." means to me is that if you REALLY think you are going to die terribly rather soon, likely you will be screaming out for God and for your mother. When men on the battlefield during World War I and World War II and Viet Nam had their legs blown off or their guts hanging out ready to die they often screamed "God Help me!" over and over again just before they died horribly. Another thing you often heard was especially from younger soldiers as they died or wished they were dying was, "Momma! Momma! Momma! save me".

So, if you really want to know what, "There are no Atheists in Foxholes" means you might have to be traumatized out of your mind and close to death to fully understand. Also, this applies more to draftees than to volunteers who have steeled themselves more for death when they volunteered for duty. Men and women not prepared for death because they were drafted would be more likely to be screaming towards the end.

I think the sanitation of warfare through police actions where blood of our soldiers isn't seen on TV and we don't see them wounded and dying in real life like we did during the Viet Nam War is really psychologically unhealthy for our nation.

It also tends to make people atheists to be so separated from the pain of death and dying. Because who needs God if you are not in distress? So, the unreality of our culture makes us sort of silly to the rest of the world the way we sanitize death and dying the way we do. In the end we are not doing ourselves any favors by hiding from death and dying this way. We only show our material side which takes us away from needing God to survive.

If everyone lives in an unreal Disneyland no one needs God.

And the rest of the world keeps God in their lives because they see death on their streets every day. When I was in India in 1985 and 1986 I saw at least one dead body on the streets almost every day. Things may have changed now but that was what it was like then. And when death is seen as near, everyone life is much more precious than it is to most Americans. Instead to most Americans death is regarded as a trauma and a complete shock instead of a natural part of living. If dying is a part of living then everyone knows they need God. But if dying is not a part of living then no one needs God because they can distract themselves into infinity with Computer games or any other diversion or distraction.

And the other thing I think useful to say is that I'm not saying everyone should believe in God. What I am saying is that to psychologically cope with the full harshness of life and death there may come a time in every one's life that they may be screaming to God for help whether they were a believer before or not. In this sense everyone needs God sometimes. "There are no Atheists in foxholes!"