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A 2001 survey directed by Dr. Ariela Keysar for the City University of New York indicated that, amongst the more than 100 categories of response, "no religious identification" had the greatest increase in population in both absolute and percentage terms. This category included atheists, agnostics, humanists, and others with no theistic religious beliefs or practices. Figures are up from 14.3 million in 1990 to 34.2 million in 2008, representing a proportionate increase from 8% of the total in 1990 to 15% in 2008. Another nation-wide study puts the figure of unaffiliated persons at 16.1%.

In a 2006 nationwide poll, University of Minnesota researchers found that despite an increasing acceptance of religious diversity, atheists were generally distrusted by other Americans, who rated them below Muslims, recent immigrants and other minority groups in "sharing their vision of American society". They also associated atheists with undesirable attributes such as criminal behavior, rampant materialism, and cultural elitism. However, the same study also reported that "The researchers also found acceptance or rejection of atheists is related not only to personal religiosity, but also to one's exposure to diversity, education and political orientation--with more educated, East and West Coast Americans more accepting of atheists than their Midwestern counterparts."

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I'm atheist, and my (non)belief is as reliable as the tides. Tide comes in, tide goes out; never a miscommunication. ;)

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I've noticed atheists get thin on the ground when incoming rounds get thick.

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The word religion is sometimes used interchangeably with faith or belief system, but religion differs from private belief in that it has a public aspect. Most religions have organized behaviors, including clerical hierarchies, a definition of what constitutes adherence or membership, congregations of laity, regular meetings or services for the purposes of veneration of a deity or for prayer, holy places (either natural or architectural), and/or scriptures. The practice of a religion may also include sermons, commemoration of the activities of a god or gods, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trance, initiations, funerary services, matrimonial services, meditation, music, art, dance, public service, or other aspects of human culture. They tend to derive morality, ethics, religious laws or a preferred lifestyle from their ideas about the cosmos and human nature.

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The statement "There are no atheists in foxholes" is an aphorism used to argue that in times of extreme stress or fear, such as when participating in warfare, all people will believe in or hope for a higher power.

The religious convictions of current U.S. military personnel are similar to that of the general American population, though the military are slightly less religious. Though the term is occasionally used to incorrectly imply that all soldiers in combat are "converted" while under fire it is most commonly only used to emphasise the belief of the sayer that many people tend to seek out a divine power when they are facing an extreme threat.

The Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers, an atheist organization, opposes the use of this phrase. They have adopted the catchphrase of "Atheists in Foxholes" to emphasize that the original statement is just an aphorism and not a statistical fact. James Morrow has been quoted as saying "'There are no atheists in foxholes' isn't an argument against atheism, it's an argument against foxholes."

The quote is also referenced when discussing the opposite effect — that warfare will cause some soldiers to question their existing belief in a God due to the death and violence around them.

A number of prominent individuals have been both atheists and combat veterans. During the coverage of his death and subsequent cryonic suspension, Baseball Hall of Famer and combat fighter pilot Ted Williams was reported to be an atheist by his former teammate Johnny Pesky. Richard Tillman, in giving the eulogy for his brother, former NFL player and soldier Pat Tillman, stated that Tillman "wasn't religious.". Tillman's atheism is also confirmed in a documentary about his life. In his 1988 book "Intellectuals," Paul Johnson states that writer and World War I veteran[18] Ernest Hemingway "not only did not believe in God but regarded organized religion as a menace to human happiness." Philip Paulson, plaintiff in several of the lawsuits in the Mount Soledad cross controversy, was an atheist Vietnam combat veteran.

Joe Simpson, author of the book Touching The Void, explicitly addresses the issue in the film adaptation of his nearly fatal climb of the Siula Grande mountain. Referring to the moment he lay at the bottom of a deep crevasse, dehydrated, alone and with a broken leg, he states: '"I was totally convinced I was on my own, that no one was coming to get me. I was brought up as a devout Catholic. I'd long since stopped believing in God. I always wondered if things really hit the fan, whether I would, under pressure, turn round and say a few Hail Marys and say 'Get me out of here'. It never once occurred to me. It meant that I really don't believe and I really do think that when you die, you die, that's it, there's no afterlife."

The Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers maintains a list of over 200 of its members who choose to publicly show their service and to show that there are atheists in foxholes, on ships, and in planes.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wisconsin, based organization, has erected a monument to "Atheists in Foxholes" because of its opposition to the statement of "no atheists in foxholes." The monument reads

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In memory of ATHEISTS IN FOXHOLES and the countless FREETHINKERS who have served this country with honor and distinction.

Presented by the national Freedom From Religion Foundation with hope that in the future humankind may learn to avoid all war.”

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