No Atheists in Foxholes

There is an old saying that there are no atheists in foxholes and I believe that to be absolutely true. That first close call or brush with mortality and all of a sudden you are praying to whatever higher power you can think of at the time.
In a larger sense I think the same thing is happening on a national level. As our economy slowly crumbles and more and more people are put in situations that they never imagined or prepared themselves for they will suddenly start holding out hope from a higher power that they never really had time for when times were so good. I imagine there are a lot of very late, dark night of the soul conversions going on these days.
What that will lead to is growth in church and other faith based groups and small communities who will help each other through the tough times to come. It will also lead to a turning away from an individual, "I can do it all on my own outlook on life" if only because it is so difficult to pull off. Just look at the old time mountain men in the early years of this country. They were probably the ultimate strong individualist type people we have ever had in this country. And yet when they went to the western mountains they died in droves just because there was too much to do by themselves and no margin for error.
In contrast, look at the Catholic Church as one example. It has survived for two millenia, through revolutions, Plagues, natural disasters and changing societies. And the people who make up the church are going to have the best chances of weathering the hard times ahead in our country if only because they will help each other. There is an infrastructure and set of rules and traditions that those outside of the spiritual community just do not have.
The days of the individualist are coming to a close and the rebirth of the family and spiritual community are one of the few positive outcomes from the coming hard times.