Atheists & Deathbed Conversions
Do atheists find religion when faced with death?
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Myth:
Many atheists have experienced deathbed conversions.
Response:
Sometimes atheists will hear from a Christian that this or that famous nonbeliever
converted to Christianity on his or her deathbed. Other times, atheists simply hear the
very general claim that atheists tend to convert to Christianity when they are on their
deathbeds, facing their immanent and certain demise. This is very similar to the myth that
"there are no atheists in foxholes," because it presumes that when we are confronted with
our own mortality, our "natural" and "automatic" reaction is to reach out to religion to
find comfort and solace.
Setting aside for a moment the question of whether or not such statements are true, we need to ask: why does anyone care what those atheists did when they were close to death? Why make a point of telling atheists now? One possible reason is to subtly imply that atheists aren't really atheists after all and in fact really do believe but refuse to admit it until a crisis occurs. Another possible reason is to imply that even if an atheist really disbelieves in God, that disbelief isn't strong enough to endure a crisis. Finally, one purpose may be to undermine interest in famous freethinkers of the past by portraying them as cowardly or hypocritical.
That atheists don't "really" disbelieve in gods has already been dealt with at length - it is an arrogant and obnoxious argument which discounts the possibility of rational and civil conversation. That some atheists' disbelief may not be very strong or well-founded is indeed true - but it is ultimately irrelevant in any current conversation with an entirely different atheist.
Is it even true that atheists have experience deathbed conversions? It is surely true that this has happened on occasions, here and there. The point which needs to be emphasized, however, is that this is a possibility because of sheer statistics, not because of any reliable or certain reports of it happening or because atheism itself is inherently weak and uncertain. When pressed for examples, a person might offer famous cases like Voltaire, Thomas Paine, Robert Ingersoll or Charles Darwin. Unfortunately, the stories about their conversions are exaggerations at best and outright fabrications at worst.
As a contrast, we do have stories of people who have been killed because of their efforts to promote doubt, skepticism and freethought against religious dogma. However, we do not have evidence of them recanting their philosophies, even though they are just the sort who might experience a conversion during an obvious crisis. For example, Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600 - but he refused to recant and he even refused to kiss a crucifix which was offered to him just before the flames were started.
The claims about atheists who convert on their deathbeds are ultimately pointless. They are unlikely true and, if true, they are irrelevant to almost any of the debates which occur between theists and atheists. Even if every atheist reached out and converted to Christianity just before their death in the hopes that the Christian stories about an afterlife are true, this would not itself cause atheism to be unreasonable and theism to be reasonable.
Atheism and theism must be able to stand on their own, regardless of the actions of nonbelievers when near death. To assume that such actions by atheists would have any bearing on whether or not it is reasonable to disbelieve in the existence of gods involves committing the Genetic Fallacy.
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