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 Is Brian really an atheist? 

In the recently aired episode, ""April in Quahog"", Brian can be clearly observed praying some time after the news report leads the public to believe that a black hole is going to swallow the earth. Also, at the end of the episode, Brian leaves the house saying he made a deal with someone that now that the earth is spared he would go volunteer at the soup kitchen. Based on the context of the situation and Stewie's remark in the background that the 'someone' Brian made a deal with was God, this calls Brian's atheism into question and suggests that he has developed some closeted religious beliefs (though other evidence from previous episodes might lead one to suspect that they have been there all along). There are only two other explanations for this series of events that I can think of: One would be that one of the underlying ideas behind the episode is something to the tune of 'there are no atheists in foxholes', though this is unlikely because Brian can be seen following through with his promise which a person who had temporarily reverted to religion because of fear wouldn't do, let alone that any kind of conservative message is very unlike McFarlane. The other would be that McFarlane is somehow poking fun at peoples' work righteous attitude towards religion, however this is also unlikely because in order to understand the joke, an in depth understanding of what Christianity actually teaches would be required which most people (including McFarlane) likely do not posses.

  Forceofdarkness"