Army approves ‘humanist’ as religious preference

[rug]

Ray Bradley listens during a planning meeting for the Central North Carolina Atheists and Humanists. For use with RNS-HUMANIST-ARMY, transmitted on April 22, 2014, Photo by John Nichols, courtesy of U.S. Army.

Adelle M. Banks | Apr 22, 2014

WASHINGTON (RNS) More than two years after first making his request, Army Maj. Ray Bradley can now be known as exactly what he is: a humanist in the U.S. military.

“I’m able to self-identity the belief system that governs my life, and I’ve never been able to do that before,” said Bradley, who is stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and works on supporting readiness of the Army Reserve’s medical staff.

Lt. Col. Sunset R. Belinsky, an Army spokeswoman, said Tuesday (April 22) that the “preference code for humanist” became effective April 12 for all members of the Army.

In practical terms, the change means that humanists could face fewer hurdles in trying to organize within the ranks; military brass would have better information to aid in planning a deceased soldier’s funeral; and it could lay the groundwork for eventually adding humanist chaplains.

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/04/22/army-approves-humanist-religious-preference/

[tk2kewl]

1. the quotes should be around "approves" or "religion" rather than humanist

[cbayer]

2. Another step in the right direction, imo.

I think the more we see non-belief as a perfectly normal and totally acceptable way of seeing the world, the less conflict we will see between believers and non-believers.

And that, imho, is a very good thing.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. More of a philosophy, but sure. Whatever.

[nil desperandum]

4. Army and religion

I know when I served during the 70s that my "No Pref" (they didn't put atheist, they just put I had no particular preference I don't recall if "None" was even an option) on my dog tags was not very popular.

Cohesive unit functionality requires looking beyond the labels and accepting job performance as the criteria for acceptance rather than religion, skin color, etc...

Adding another label to make a better fit seems a reasonable step.