Mountaineer in Trouble: No Prayers to God

Many are familiar with the story of Aron Ralston who had to amputate his own arm when trapped under a boulder and far from help. Less familiar is the story of Joe Simpson who, while climbing in the Peruvian Andes, severely broke his leg and ankle at 20,000 feet. Eventually he had to pull himself much of the way out - an excrutiatingly painful experience. But did he ever pray to God for help or solace?

Not according to this interview:

At 16, I asked all these monks some serious questions and they didn't come up with the answers, and I just decided I didn't believe in God. And I always thought, you know, if everything hit the fan, then I might turn around and say, you know, a couple of Hail Marys, "Can you get me out of here?" And in all those days, I never did once, not even in the crevasse. I never thought of some God or some omniscient being that'd lean down and give me help, and I feel, actually, if I had believed that, I just would've stopped and waited for it, and I would've died. And so in a way, that's why that loneliness, I think, came in. I was 25, I was fit, strong, ambitious. I wanted to climb the world and I was dying. There was no afterlife, there's no paradise, there's no heaven. It's just dead. And I really didn't want to lose that. I've got immense respect for other people's religions, be it Christian or Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim. I just…I don't happen to have a belief, and I've tested that atheism, so, um, I respect my own lack of belief now. Before, I was never quite sure.

Simpson's experiences were incredible - not many people could have managed to live through them. He is, however, another example of how a person can be an atheist even when facing death. Yes, there are atheists in foxholes.

Read More:

• No Atheists in Foxholes?