In my last article (Post
Hoc Miracles, June/July, 2002), I discussed how statistical extremes
are frequently misapplied by theists as "proofs" for their
religious assumptions about the existence of “miracles from God.”
In this article I am once again going to discuss statistical
probabilities, but not as they concern after the fact claims of the
miraculous, but rather before the fact statistics pertaining to
religious belief and nonbelief in America, and the implications such
figures have concerning the polemical axiom we frequently hear from
pro-religion circles, “there are no atheists in foxholes.”
Statistically
speaking (see American
Religious Identification Survey, 2001), of the 343 New York City
firefighters that died in the World Trade Center on September 11th,
between 8-14 percent of them were atheists, agnostics, humanists and
freethinkers—that’s 30-48 firefighters, among just those
firefighters who died (many hundreds more worked feverishly at ground
zero searching for fallen firefighters and other victims under continuing
personal risk, and survived)! Even
by the most conservative statistics (typically done by religious
organizations), no less than 5 percent of Americans would be classified
under these categories of nonbelief, which means that at least 17 of those
firefighters who died were nonreligious, i.e., atheists in foxholes!
Even in my own fire
department in the ultra-conservative city and Christian stronghold,
Colorado Springs, Colorado, such figures seem to bear-out given that fully
8 percent (about 30) of my fellow firefighters have expressed such views
to me directly, although most of these have done so privately, having seen
how I have been vilified by “believers” for daring to challenge
their on-the-job evangelizing efforts.
By contrast New York
City, far from being touted as a city of piety, is typically targeted by
evangelists as overflowing with Sodom & Gomorrah-like “sins of the
flesh,” “mammon,” “heathenism” and other “debauchery.”
Of course, where
Sodom & Gomorrah apparently could not produce even “ten righteous
people” (Genesis 18:32) in order to save these cities from the fiery
wrath of the loving Yahweh, New York isn’t quite so bad off, it seems,
since if we are to believe the pro-religion columnists and pulpit
evangelism then 100 percent of the dead “heroes” from the New York
City Fire Department were righteous and God-fearing saints—not a single
“Godless atheist” among them!
"Believing" firefighters
who survived 9/11 have received extensive national exposure in which to
"thank God" for "giving them the courage" to perform
their duties in the face of danger. Personally
I think we should respect that, since such expression is part of their
particular cycle of grief. But should not the same respect be given
the nonbelievers? Where is the national media voice for them? Why should they be denied the
right to express their grief and be acknowledged without fear of incurring
the wrath of their family, friends, co-workers and community for
expressing an unpopular view?
They are human too
and they hurt just as bad as anyone else, yet, today religionists and
political propaganda spinners have made belief in “God” a litmus test
for patriotism, and to express anything less is to be blackballed as
“un-American,” “un-patriotic,” a “trouble maker,” or worse. This is an unhealthy stance to say
the least, but more than that it’s divisive and cruel.
We have all seen the
vitriolic editorials in the media asserting (without evidence) that
"There are no atheists in foxholes.”
Is this true? Are there really no atheists to be
found among the ranks of our military, fire, police and other dangerous
professions as soon as things start to get tense? Was there not even one
freethinker, humanist, agnostic, or atheist among those 343 firefighters
who died on 9/11 who might have had something besides “God” on their
minds during their few remaining seconds of consciousness and
life—family for instance?
Statistics suggest that such
people exist, but you will never get the evangelists to admit that. Why? Simple. Because to allow such a thing
would be to admit that one does not need a belief in “God” in order to
show more concern for others than for one’s own self-preservation, which
in turn might lead to questioning of other areas where religionists
proclaim exclusive “divine” rights, e.g., morals, ethics, love,
kindness, compassion, etc.
No, the atheist can
never be allowed a place at the altar of heroism, lest the evangelists
lose yet another “proof” for the divine workings of their “God.” In the aftermath of 9/11 religious
eulogies saturated the media in which the “fallen heroes” were all
resoundingly converted to “belief” regardless of what they may or may
not have believed in life, be it Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, atheism or
anything else—they all became “God’s children” who “died while
doing ‘good’ through the Lord.”
This follows suit with a time-honored practice among evangelists to
manufacture “conversion testimonies” of famous figures or notable
dissenters after they are dead and unable to defend themselves.
I don’t begrudge
anyone their right to believe as they will, and I can appreciate that such
“conversions” we see in mass eulogies are typically not for those who
died per se, but for the living, the survivors, and the profound
psychological and emotional struggles they are dealing with in trying to
make sense of the senseless. But
the problem is that it never stops with just the well-meaning
expression of personal grief; there are always those with ulterior
motives, proclaiming exclusive rights to “the one true religion,” who
inevitably utilize such tragedy and suffering to promote their religious
agendas.
Nonreligious
firefighters most certainly were there at the WTC when it
collapsed, just as they were there thousands of times before on other
structure fires and dangerous rescues they responded to throughout their
careers. And like their "believing" counterparts, they
were most likely focused on the job-at-hand and helping others rather than
debilitating their minds with fatalistic thoughts of death, praying to
some invisible idea in the sky for self-comfort. I think it is high
time the dignity of their collective conscience in life was recognized and
respected in their death—I’m quite certain they have earned it!