The Old Man and the Sea: Religion

Religion to some people is a very important aspect in their lives. In the novel The Old Man and the Sea it seems that Santiago really lives up to the saying of there are no atheists in foxholes. Santiago never explicitly states that he does not believe in a higher power only that he is not a religious man, yet several times in the novel when in a dangerous or bleak situation and he needs strength he will pray to the Virgin Mary. This strikes me as somewhat hypocritical. The fact that the only time he prays is when he is in trouble seems like he is just taking advantage of religion and not truly believing in it. Personally I like Santiago, he just seems like a pretty cool and chill guy. This one thing he does thought just irks me. The novel was not meant to be any sort of statement on religion or anything in the like, but some people like to analyze everything they can to get some sort of religious message out of it. Case in point is Star Wars. Yea, some people try to say Star Wars is promoting Christianity through it's use of the force and the light and dark sides of it. But enough about Star Wars the point is not everything has a religious aspect. Some say that Santiago is a metaphor for Christ, which I can't see but if people dig deep enough they can just relate any old thing to the Holy Bible. Santiago mentions the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in one moment with the sharks and people interpret this as Hemingway meaning that Santiago could be a Christ figure. In my opinion it's not at all. It's an old Cuban fisherman who is having a very rough time at sea and he looks to the crucifixion and how Christ stayed strong in his time of trouble. To me that just doesn't relate Santiago in being a savior type character at all but hey, whatever floats your boat I suppose.