US Military Treatment Of Atheists

Reprinted from another board, with permission.

I take a great deal of offense to the "No Atheists In Foxholes" comment that is prevalent in the military. I am a member of both the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF) and Atheists in Foxholes (AiF).

I have been involved in several EO (Equal Opportunity) complaints against military chaplains and commanders for their complete and total disregard for Atheists. I have posted on some of these before.

I got into a little bit of trouble recently. At a briefing where the chaplain gave an invocation, he said the 'no atheists...' comment. I said, a little too loudly, "And there are no Christians in prison either." Since I was overheard by quite a few people, I was asked to repeat my comment. I did so very loudly. The conversation proceeded as follows:

"How could you make such an offensive statement sergeant?"

to which I replied, "What are you talking about, sir, I am not even here."

"What do you mean?" He said.

"Well, SIR, if there are no atheists in foxholes, as you claim; I could not possible be here in Iraq." Perhaps my crisis of faith has confused me, SIR, but it is you who have offended me."

I walked out and got a stern talking to about disrespecting officers. I won't ever put up with that shit. I didn't get into any formal trouble but I sure as hell held my ground. And I will do it again and again and again...

It is the disregard that pisses me off. I will sit through the invocation with my head held high and fully respect my comrades and their religious choices. I won't sit idly by while some asshole disregards mine.

Personally I feel that the God Corps are a BLATANT infringement on church and state and should not exist in any form or fashion and should be disbanded.
They should be offered a door or a weapon and given a choice.