Matthew Hutson at the Huffington Post has an interesting article on the research conducted by the University of Otago in New Zealand which attempted to quantify the effect of the threat of death on supernatural belief.  In other words, is it true there are no atheists in foxholes?

The researchers used a “supernatural belief scale” to try to quantify the spiritual beliefs of test subjects:

In their first study, they asked subjects to write about what will happen to them when they die, or what happens when they watch TV. Then they used a Supernatural Belief Scale (SBS), asking subjects if they believe in things like God and heaven…

Writing about death increased SBS scores among religious participants but decreased SBS scores among nonreligious participants.

The first study seemed to indicate the concept of death made both groups — religious or not — stronger in their beliefs.  However, the study began by asking the participants their beliefs, which might have resulted in a “defensive reaction” when answering later questions.  To eliminate that variable, they conducted a study using implicit association:

Subjects once again wrote about death or TV. Then they took an IAT requiring quick categorization of words…

Two main effects emerged. First, religious subjects showed a stronger association between the supernatural words and the reality words than nonreligious subjects did, indicating a stronger belief in the supernatural. (No surprise there.) And second, a reminder of death increased this association in both religious and nonreligious subjects. What’s more, thoughts of death increased implicit belief in supernatural entities just as much in skeptics as it did in the faithful.

In other words, atheists may have been more open to the supernatural by virtue of their exposure to death. The article says a third study “confirmed” this

while a death reminder strengthened religious subjects’ implicit belief in religious concepts…, it weakened the disbelief of the nonreligious…

Jason Torpy, an atheist, former US Army officer, and frequent critic of religion in the US military, was asked for comment and gave a typical defensive response:

“People would be better served by seeking comfort in reality,” he said. “Fantasy-based coping can only delay the inevitable reckoning with the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.'”

Huston accurately responds by saying there are studies that contradict Torpy’s assertion, indicating “magical thinking” can help.  Torpy isn’t a psychiatrist, so his comment is based on his emotional hostility toward religion, not any scientific or professional analysis.

Are there atheists in foxholes?  Yep.  But the New Zealand study might lend some scientific support to why the cliché even exists.  Even if by small degree, it seems even avowed atheists may open to the supernatural when faced with death.