The question implies that when a society is plunged into the chaos and evil of war, faith becomes especially difficult to hold on to. This is undoubtedly true, but many religious writers would say that it is far easier to maintain faith in wartime than in peace.

C.S. Lewis devotes at least one chapter of The Screwtape Letters to this point, and his Mere Christianity, perhaps the best-selling religious book after the Bible, first appeared as radio broadcasts on BBC during the Battle of Britain.

In war human securities and consolations are blown to smithereens and people are moved to seek a more lasting foundation and a more permanent city. After 9/11 there were those whose faith was left in shambles, but there seem to have been many more who were moved by the catastrophe to turn back to God.

In Hemingway's novel of Spain during the civil war, For Whom the Bell Tolls, one of the most vivid scenes depicts a nominally atheist soldier praying the Hail Mary over and over in his foxhole as he is being strafed by enemy planes. The more challenging question may be: How do you keep your faith in times of peace and prosperity?

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