By JALETTA ALBRIGHT DESMOND
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
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Apparently, there are atheists in foxholes. Author, journalist and avowed atheist Christopher Hitchens, who has been diagnosed with cancer, appears to be living proof that people facing death may still refuse to believe in a life after. They embrace their doubt or disbelief rather than throw hope up like a heaven-bound Hail Mary pass.
According to a New York Times article, Christians are posting online comments, urging Hitchens, the author of “God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” to accept salvation. One suggested his conversion would be like a modern day Paul, while another said “Mr. Hitchens, before you die give your life to Christ. Why not.”
Because he still doesn’t believe, thank you very much anyway, he seemed to say. He was asked if he finds the prayers being offered on his behalf insulting and he graciously said, “No, no. I take it kindly, under the assumption that they are praying for my recovery.”
The origin of the phrase, “There are no atheists in fox holes,” appears to date back to World War II. Various websites credit the statement to either military personnel or journalist Ernie Pyle. The line was reportedly used in the 1942 film “Wake Island.”
Disturbingly, the earliest expression of the phrase is credited to Adolf Hitler, according to About.com, when he reportedly told Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Bavaria, “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” isn’t much of a faith, of course. When faith is reduced to a tool you can desperately reach for in an emergency, it becomes a fire hose or hatchet rather than something more sustaining such as food or water.
But some soldiers openly disagree about needing religion, whether it is a prop or a defining principle. The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (or the MAAF) says on its website that they want to debunk the foxhole “myth” and show how atheists have “served honorably in combat — always have, always will.” There are nearly 200 names on the Atheist in Foxholes list, from every member of the armed forces. The website states, “there is no doubt that Christianity has played a significant role in the shaping and history of America,” but that the country was founded on the basis of pluralism and the common good, freedom of religion, and the separation of church and state. Therefore, the website says someone serving in the military can get “atheist” put on his or her ID tag, refrain from saying “So Help Me God” during the enlistment oath, or resist being “ordered” to pray.
Some never find faith in a foxhole and some may even lose it after witnessing the cruelties of war, as in the tale of a World War I vet who gathered his family together and announced that religion was banned from his home, declaring that either God wasn’t worthy of worship or didn’t exist. Of course, many people give God credit for getting them out of the foxhole alive.
Most skeptics are skeptical about last-minute proclamations of faith. “How can such experiences generate authentic faith?” asked one site. “Would God even want people to believe merely because they were under great pressure and very afraid?”
Great question. I can understand someone who pictures God as a giant zapper or black robed judge asking it. But I think God would welcome a sincere proclamation at the last minute, without conditions. That is the point of my religion, isn’t it? His grace is bigger than my biggest flaws and my nagging doubts. If I’d been an atheist most of my life, as Christopher Hitchens has been, I don’t think God would say, “Too late. I don’t buy it.” I think he would say, “It’s about time! I’ve been waiting and there’s a place set at the table for you right here.”
Hitchens, a brilliant thinker, insightful writer, and commonly regarded entertaining dinner guest, would probably be the life of the party. God would likely welcome him home with a fatted calf and glorious robe, weeping with joy as did the father over the prodigal son. Sure, there might be some cantankerous sorts who would stand there angrily like the other brother, pouting or doubting but God would be ready to celebrate.
Hitchens, although not dismissive of the prayers offered for him, remains dismissive of the possibility that they will work for his soul. He doesn’t believe he’ll make an 11th-hour conversion and cautions in the New York Times article against being taken seriously if he did.
“The entity making such a remark might be a raving, terrified person whose cancer has spread to the brain,” he said. “I can’t guarantee that such an entity wouldn’t make such a ridiculous remark, but not one recognizable as myself would ever make such a remark.”
That remark won’t likely stop the flow of prayers for his soul because believers, of various religions, think we are transformed inside and out by God.
Hitchens apparently doesn’t want to become the Christianity cover boy or poster child for proselytizing. He wants to leave this world with the disbelief he has held dear. Still, I just can’t help saying a prayer that he won’t leave discovering he was wrong in the end.
Jaletta Albright Desmond is a self-syndicated columnist who writes about faith, family, and the fascinatingly mundane aspects of daily life.
