From: utzoo!mark
Newsgroups: net.followup
Title: Re: atheist/agnostic 
Article-I.D.: utzoo.2767
Posted: Thu Jan 20 23:25:26 1983
Received: Thu Jan 20 23:25:26 1983
References: utzoo.2763 

someone recently presented that old chestnut "there are no atheists in
foxholes".  this strikes me as the defense of one who can't stand the idea
that his beleifs might be open to question.  it is akin to "we all REALLY
worship the same god", which is applied to jews, moslems, christians,
buddists, etc., with all their sub-catagories.  such assertions are both a
sign of lack of self-confidance and a potential insult to those lumped in
with the speaker.

i don't doubt that some have found religion under fire, though i do doubt
that such conversions necessarily outlast the shelling.  deathbed
recantations are well-known (eg. cyrano de bergerac, charles darwin), and
i think the two phenomena are  similar:  they owe more to panic
and a childhood indoctrination with a fear of fire and brimstone than to
reasoned opinion.  i did not have such an upbringing, and very much doubt
that i would turn christian in a foxhole, although this has never come very
close to being tested.  religious feelings simply do not come naturally to
my mind.

BTW i call myself an atheist, although by a recently posted set of definitions
i am "unreligious":  i would beleive in a god (or gods) if presented with
good, hard evidence.  i invite submission of such (preferably by mail; i
think this discussion will take up enough net space without adding tertiary
responses), but warn that "the universe couldn't have happened by accident",
or "100 million christians must know SOMETHING" don't qualify as evidence.

let the roast begin!

			not afraid of bolts from above
			mARK bLOORE
			univ. of toronto