Santiago's religion

I found the references to religion in the story to be very interesting. In the story, Santiago claims he is not a religious man, and this seems to hold true at first. Then he begins to pray as the fish he has caught causes more trouble for him. Every time he is in a rough situation dealing with trying to get the fish up to the boat or just keeping it on the line, Santiago promises to say prayers if he can keep the fish. At one point though he even states that he sometimes forgets parts of the prayers though. This seems to prove the fact that he is not really a religious person but raises the question of why would he pray in the fist place. History shows that a lot of times when people are in a rough situation or place in their lives, they may pray even though they do not really love or believe in God. It is strange though because the situation of Santiago isn’t really that bad. It isn’t life or death, and he would be alright if he didn’t catch the fish. Maybe he chooses to pray because he thinks that catching this fish will be the turn in his luck, but he needs to start with this fish first. He could also be simply thinking of how much the fish would be worth for his own gain, but this doesn’t really seem plausible because not once does he mention the pay that he will receive for bringing it in. He does mention how many people it could feed, but that is completely different and does not display any selfishness at all. One would think that praying in a situation like that would actually make a person religious, but Santiago believes he has no true relation with God. It wouldn’t really surprise me if Santiago has prayed before in similar situations though, which in my eyes would make him technically a religious person.