Military atheists want new rules on prayer

[unhappycamper]

Jason Torpy, a retired soldier and president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, speaks about problems with harassment from military supervisors at Monday’s event sponsored by the Secular Coalition for America. Next to him is Army Maj. Laurel Williams, who said her formal complaints about religious-themed military events have gone unanswered.


Military atheists want new rules on prayer
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, November 12, 2008

WASHINGTON — A coalition of atheists and agnostics wants the new White House to protect young military members from what they see as rampant religious discrimination in the services.

The Secular Coalition for America held a news conference Monday urging new rules against proselytizing and more training for chaplains on how to handle nonreligious troops.

"When they say ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’ it’s slanderous," said Wayne Adkins, a former Army first lieutenant who served in Iraq in 2004 and 2005. "To deny their existence is to deny that they serve."

The coalition also wants President-elect Obama to develop a new directive for all chaplains and commanders that eliminates public prayers from any mandatory-attendance events for troops and ensures the Defense Department will not endorse any single religion, or even the idea of religion over nonreligion.

Jason Torpy, a retired soldier and president of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, said his group isn’t opposed to Christianity or any other organized religion.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58763%2e

[cosmik debris]

1. I'll just bet that the DoD will pull out that old excuse

"unit cohesion" to justify their position.

It worked with Blacks and Gays...at least for a while.

[ColbertWatcher]

4. Very old and merely an excuse. n/t

[Deep13]

2. This might be a good time to point out that religious tests for public office...

...and positions of public trust--which I have to assume includes military personnel--is unconstitutional and, therefore, unamerican.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. That would be nice to see.

I was hoping that Karen Hagen (the woman who kicked Liddy Dole's ass in NC after her "godless American" ad ran on TV) would have pulled a Colon Powell, who said...

"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America."

--MTP transcript, October 19, 2008

...except, she could have replaced "Muslim" with "atheist" and instead of this picture,



... she could have used this one:



But, alas another opportunity wasted.

[Crowman1979]

3. Remember that line about "No athiests in the foxhole," there is no military historical record of...

...anyone actually saying that. It's basically a quote from a war movie called "Wake Island." Which reminds me, I hate it when someone uses fictional material and applies it as historical fact. What's next? Are they gonna use dogfighting tactics from the movie "Top Gun" and think it's ok to flirt with the instructor or fly by a tower?

[ColbertWatcher]

6. "I hate it when someone uses fictional material and applies it as historical fact"

Like when the fundies say Mel Gibson is a patriot because of this:

[Crowman1979]

7. Mel needs to put his money where his mouth is and join the California National Guard.

He's young enough right? LOL IMO if your for the war or not a pacifist and your young enough, then join. If your against the war or you are a pacifist then you shouldn't join the military in the first place. That's just my philosophy.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Mel's too old and too freakish to be allowed anywhere near a weapon, IMHO. n/t

[rakeeb]

9. too old by a long shot... but he was born in the U.S.

which would have helped him a long time ago if he thought about serving.

I don't think you'll see a legislative body that opens it's sessions with an invocation passing a law that that states otherwise for another department of the gov't anytime soon...

[Crowman1979]

10. Or Mel could torture himself to get info out of prisoners.

They talk after watching Mel whip himself with a cat o'nine tails with shards of glass attached to it.