Isn't the old saying you will never find an Atheist in a foxhole silly?

Oh, I'm so going to start saying "you will never find an Atheist in a fox tree".

No. I have known several atheists who have "continue[d] to be an atheist when faced with the worst pain and hardships in life". Two of them, a United States Marine and a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, have literally been atheists in foxholes. Your claim that "all people seek God in one way or another" is also patently false. You're entitled to believe that, but it sounds ridiculous when applied to people who don't believe your god even exists. Why would we seek help from a being we know isn't real? That doesn't make any sense. I think this kind of thinking comes from the misconception, commonly held by Christians, that atheists really believe that the Christian god exists, but just deny it for personal reasons. This is, of course, also patently false.

WOW! I see the silly factor after all these years. I thought it was referring to a literal "foxhole" as in World War One. But, now I see that the word is based on two words ... fox and hole ... which could actually mean a literal hole owned by a fox. Well, how would a fox own anything besides its fur? I mean the hole is in the ground and does he/she have a written documentation of ownership like a deed OR can the fox even read or write. I see now how silly this whole thing is and I greet your perceptiveness with the tribute of a star given FOR SILLINESS.

Ha! Funny.

If any of you didn't know ... a "foxhole" was a hole soldiers would take cover in during the period of trench warfare. The phrase "No atheists in foxholes" became popular during the First World War.

Fox generally live in dens, anyway, which are more elaborate holes.

Betty, foxes live in dens. A fox's den is a hole in the ground. Foxes do live in holes. An if you read American Atheist magazine they have a regular column each month called "Foxhole Atheist of the Month".

You are correct about the atheists, but wrong about the foxes. I knew a few atheists, including yours truly, who were occasionally forced to take residence in those miserable "digs." And we came out of them the same way we went in them; atheists.

(9th Infantry - 1966-68 Vietnam)

And by the way, even if such silliness were true, wouldn't it mean that fear is the fundamental motivation for faith? Would a religious person WANT such a thing to be true?

If you had ever been in a shooting war you would be looking for a foxhole. The is also no Atheist on the death bed. The Bible call anybody that don't believe in God a fool. Psalms 14: 1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

That not silly

Actually, the foxes had to start living in holes because the sheep were taking up all the room in the trees...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkw2DdoskPY

Fox hole? A hole where you dug to keep yourself concealed from the enemy in battle.

The saying makes sense.

Ahh but us atheists like to dig foxholes and pretend we're foxes.

We not know foxies not live in holes because we not have science books. Bible seems to say that foxies live in holes.