There are no atheists in foxholes

Last updated

"There are no atheists in foxholes" is an aphorism used to suggest that times of extreme stress or fear can prompt belief in a higher power. [1] In the context of actual warfare, such a sudden change in belief has been called a foxhole conversion. The logic of the argument is also used to argue for the opposite.

Contents

Origin

The statement is an aphorism used to argue that people will believe in, or hope for, a higher power in times of fear or stress, such as during war ("in foxholes"). [1] The origin of the quotation is uncertain. [2] The U.S. military chaplain William Thomas Cummings may have said it in a field sermon during the Battle of Bataan in 1942, [3] though scholars have been unable to find a firsthand witness to the sermon. [4] [5] Other sources credit Lieutenant Colonel Warren J. Clear (or the anonymous sergeant he spoke with there), who was also at Bataan and published the usage in 1942; [6] or Lieutenant Colonel William Casey. The phrase is often attributed to war correspondent Ernie Pyle; [7] [8] [9] [10] however, no such source published prior to Pyle's death is known. It was also quoted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in remarks broadcast from the White House as part of a February 7, 1954, American Legion Program. With slightly different wording, the statement appears much earlier in press reports dating from the end of the First World War, while a similar concept has been sought in Plato's Laws , and in Karl Marx's often-misrepresented [note 1] partial quote that "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". [2]

Usage

While primarily used to comment on the experiences of combat soldiers, the aphorism has been adapted to other perilous situations, as in "There are no atheists in probate court".[ citation needed ] Although the adage occasionally means that all soldiers in combat are "converted" under fire, it is most often used to express the belief of the speaker that all people seek a divine power when they are facing an extreme threat. [1] [12] The quote is also referenced when discussing the opposite effect — that warfare causes some soldiers to question their existing belief in God due to the death and violence around them. [13] [14] [15]

The quote has also been used in non-military contexts. In September 2008, in the depths of the financial crisis of 2007–2010, both Ben Bernanke and Paul Krugman popularized a version of the quote in reference to financial crises. They paraphrased Harvard professor Jeffrey Frankel, who originally wrote in the Cato Journal a year earlier, "They say 'there are no atheists in foxholes.' Perhaps, then, there are also no libertarians in crises." [16] The sentence is also quoted in the Gustav Hasford's novel The Short-Timers . The quote has been used by but commonly misattributed to economist Paul Krugman. [17]

Criticism

Several atheist organizations object to the phrase. The Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers has adopted the catch-phrase "Atheists in Foxholes" to criticise the aphorism. [18] Author James Morrow said: "That maxim, 'There are no atheists in foxholes,' it's not an argument against atheism — it's an argument against foxholes." [19] In 2015, describing the phrase as a "tired, old, untrue cliché", the Freedom From Religion Foundation erected a monument to "Atheists in Foxholes", commemorating American atheist, agnostic, freethinking and skeptical US armed services veterans. [20]

Notes

  1. ↑ Karl Marx's quote is only quoted in part as the interpretation of the metaphor in its context has received much less attention. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secular humanism</span> Life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism

Secular humanism is a philosophy, belief system or life stance that embraces human reason, logic, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.

Freethought is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other methods such as logic, reason, and empirical observation. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a freethinker is "a person who forms their own ideas and opinions rather than accepting those of other people, especially in religious teaching." In some contemporary thought in particular, free thought is strongly tied with rejection of traditional social or religious belief systems. The cognitive application of free thought is known as "freethinking", and practitioners of free thought are known as "freethinkers". Modern freethinkers consider free thought to be a natural freedom from all negative and illusive thoughts acquired from society.

The opium of the people or opium of the masses is a dictum used in reference to religion, derived from a frequently paraphrased partial statement of German revolutionary and critic of political economy Karl Marx: "Religion is the opium of the people." In context, the statement is part of Marx's analysis that religion's role is as a metaphysical balm for the real suffering in the universe and in society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freedom From Religion Foundation</span> American nonprofit organization

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for atheists, agnostics, and nontheists. Formed in 1976, FFRF promotes the separation of church and state, and challenges the legitimacy of many federal and state programs that are faith-based. It supports groups such as nonreligious students and clergy who want to leave their faith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Atheists</span> Atheism activist organization

American Atheists is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to defending the civil liberties of atheists and advocating complete separation of church and state. It provides speakers for colleges, universities, clubs, and the news media. It also publishes books and American Atheist Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secular Coalition for America</span> American advocacy group

The Secular Coalition for America is an advocacy group located in Washington D.C. It describes itself as "protecting the equal rights of nonreligious Americans."

Atheism is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities and any statements to the contrary are false ones. The English term 'atheist' was used at least as early as the sixteenth century and atheistic ideas and their influence have a longer history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell's teapot</span> Analogy devised by Bertrand Russell

Russell's teapot is an analogy, formulated by the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), to illustrate that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making empirically unfalsifiable claims, rather than shifting the burden of disproof to others.

Ruth Hurmence Green gained notability within the atheist community with the publication of her book The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the Bible in 1979. This book has since been the best selling publication from the Freedom From Religion Foundation. She was also the author of many other essays which were published posthumously in The Book of Ruth in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Barker</span> American atheist activist and musician

Daniel Edwin Barker is an American atheist activist and musician who served as an evangelical Christian preacher and composer for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984. He and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor are the current co-presidents of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, and he is cofounder of The Clergy Project. He has written numerous articles for Freethought Today, an American freethought newspaper. He is the author of several books including Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers</span>

The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) is a community for atheists and freethinkers in the military, both within the United States and from around the world. The MAAF can assist U.S. military members to respond to illegal and insensitive religious proselytizing on military bases. It is an independent 501(c)(3) organization building community for freethinkers and other nontheists in the military. The MAAF supports constitutional separation of church and state and First Amendment rights for all service members. It also educates and trains both the military and civilian community about atheism and Freethought in the military.

Discrimination against atheists, sometimes called atheophobia, atheistophobia, or anti-atheism, both at present and historically, includes persecution of and discrimination against people who are identified as atheists. Discrimination against atheists may be manifested by negative attitudes, prejudice, hostility, hatred, fear, or intolerance towards atheists and atheism or even the complete denial of atheists existence. It is often expressed in distrust regardless of its manifestation. Perceived atheist prevalence seems to be correlated with reduction in prejudice. There is global prevalence of mistrust in moral perceptions of atheists found in even secular countries and among atheists.

<i>The Twilight of Atheism</i> Book by Alister McGrath

The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World is a book by Christian theologian and apologist Alister McGrath which traces the perceived decline of secular thought over the last two centuries.

Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities. Atheism is contrasted with theism, which in its most general form is the belief that at least one deity exists.

According to sociologists as of 2022, "the proportion of atheists in the US has held steady at 3% to 4% for more than 80 years." According to the Pew Research Center in a 2014 survey, self-identified atheists make up 3.1% of the US population, even though 9% of Americans agreed with the statement "Do not believe in God" while 2% agreed with the statement "Do not know if they believe in God".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States military chaplains</span>

United States military chaplains hold positions in the armed forces of the United States and are charged with conducting religious services and providing counseling for their adherents. As of 2011, there are about 2,900 chaplains in the Army, among the active duty, reserve, and National Guard components.

William Thomas Cummings was a Maryknoll mission priest and U.S. military chaplain, recognized by Maryknoll as a martyr of the Philippines, is one of the people to whom the quotation "There are no atheists in foxholes" has been attributed. Some of the others possibly responsible for the aphorism's currency were also present at the Battle of Bataan in 1942, when Cummings might have said it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Torpy</span>

Jason Torpy is president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF), an advocacy group focused on non-religious service members and veterans. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and a Humanist Celebrant who works to increase the visibility of "atheists in foxholes".

The secular movement refers to a social and political trend in the United States, beginning in the early years of the 20th century, with the founding of the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism in 1925 and the American Humanist Association in 1941, in which atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, freethinkers, and other nonreligious and nontheistic Americans have grown in both numbers and visibility. There has been a sharp increase in the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated, from under 10 percent in the 1990s to 20 percent in 2013. The trend is especially pronounced among young people, with about one in three Americans younger than 30 identifying as religiously unaffiliated, a figure that has nearly tripled since the 1990s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Reese, Thomas J. (May 31, 2007). "No Atheists in Fox Holes". Washington Post Company. Archived from the original on June 8, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "Discussion on Linguist List". Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  3. ↑ "I Saw the Fall of the Philippines", Carlos Peña Romulo
  4. ↑ Crosby, Donald F. (1994). Battlefield Chaplains: Catholic Priests in World War II. Page 26
  5. ↑ Page 2 of Fulton Sheen's Wartime Prayerbook
  6. ↑ "The Heroic Defense of the Philippines", reprinted in Reader's Digest, July 1942
  7. ↑ "Oops! He Did It Again! Brokaw Repeats Canard, "There Are No Atheists In Foxholes" During NBC Evening News". Flashline. American Atheists. 2003-03-12. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Chip. sfgate.com; "GI turns to Islam to find God." San Francisco Chronicle. Monday, March 6, 2006. Accessed Nov-22-2009.
  9. ↑ "Faith, Hope, and Charity in North Carolina" . Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  10. ↑ Down in the drink: true stories of the Goldfish Club , Ralph Barker 1955
  11. ↑ McKinnon, Andrew M. (2005). "Reading 'Opium of the People': Expression, Protest and the Dialectics of Religion". Critical Sociology. 31 (1–2): 15–38. doi:10.1163/1569163053084360. hdl: 2164/3074 . S2CID   143119316.
  12. ↑ "Report on Chaplains." Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers. Accessed Nov-22-2009.
  13. ↑ Resnicoff, Arnold E. (June 28, 2004). "On becoming our own worst enemy". The Christian Science Monitor . Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  14. ↑ Allen, Joshua. There Are No Atheists in Foxholes. Rhode Island Monthly. April 2007 issue.
  15. ↑ "Religion: Atheists & Foxholes". Time Magazine. June 18, 1945. Archived from the original on September 19, 2010.
  16. ↑ Frankel, Jeffrey (Spring–Summer 2007). "Responding to Crises" (PDF). Cato Journal. Cato Institute. 27 (2). Retrieved 2009-12-17.
  17. ↑ Paul Krugman (2008-12-17). "Other people's wit". New York Times.
  18. ↑ "Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers" . Retrieved 27 June 2017.
  19. ↑ December 2001, Faith L. Justice Issue: 3 (2001-12-03). "Interview: James Morrow". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2021-10-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ↑ Seering, Lauryn. "FFRF unveils 'Atheists in Foxholes' monument at new headquarters - Freedom From Religion Foundation". ffrf.org. Retrieved 2021-10-16.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.