Atheists in the Military

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I hate how the military makes it a "you've got a choice, BUT...if you don't do it our way, you WILL be miserable". This applies to the church going comment as well. Not the first time I've heard of systems set-up to encourage a narrow range of acceptable practices.

Personally, I'm an atheist, I'm a pacifist, and I don't want to be forced to get involved in issues I don't consider appropriate. I gotta find myself a better country!

how is saying "so help me god" the same as saying I believe in god.
what about when atheist say "oh my god" does this mean they unconsciously believe ?

or could it be these sayings are just that sayings, that have been used for so long that its just common place.


as for with the military have any of you served recently? cause the s**t I hear about from people is the military is turning anti christian. labeling christian groups as groups you can't be in etc.

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Precisely, and that's pretty much how it is in Air Force BMTS. If you're wise you use that time as ersatz f**k off time. They will not ask you if you're an atheist and keep you from going to chapel services, nor will the ceiling collapse or anyone burst into flames if an atheist enters one of the churches there. Go there and simply enjoy the peace of not being yelled at for a while.

So long as its not a fire and brimstone "YOU ARE ALL GOING TO BURN IN HELL" preacher.

I love it
I'm also "quoting" this image because there is a good chance you'll change your mind (at least a few times) about it in a few minutes and delete it.

Those kind turn me off, too.....

So you would be happy if the oath said, "so help me Allah," or "so help me Vishnu" or "so help me FSM" ? It's just a formality, hey.

If they want to deny Atheists the right to serve, they should mandate that every single Christian not only serves in the military, but also serves in combat.

^My line of thinking on the subject. If they want to keep the wordsl, there should be the option of saying "so help me" and then filling in the blank or leaving it at those three words.

But can you imagine the sh*tstorm that would begin if someone said "so help me Satan?"

^the only people I have heard this from are the same people who are convinced there is a war against Christmas and that all liberals want to force America into a godless communist state (or saome similar variation along those lines).

"The same damn Constitution that they just asked people to support and defend! wrote:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."




To refer back to the OP's post on the first page: legally speaking "so help me God" is not in fact a religious text (is the statement above meant to read "test " or text?), as it's not a quote from a verse in the Bible or Quran or any other "holy" book,- it is simply a phrase that's been used in various countries for many years as a statement of emphasis.

Is is meant to read "test". And the "So Help Me God" phrase was actually recognized in the US as an explicitly religious phrase as early as 1789, where an exemption was provided in the Judiciary Act of 1789.


Source:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3AUn ... 1.djvu/198

The US Constitution itself calls for affirmation or oath in several instances, but contains no "So help me God" obligation.

It is somewhat ironic, even, that so many US Christians are so keen on maintaining a religious oath... After all, the entire issue started with Quakers who refused to swear oaths for very obvious Christian reasons...

Happy? No, if I had to take an oath with any of those names in it I'd find it disturbing and 15 minutes later I would be OVER IT since it would not be relevant to my reason for joining up. It would not occur to me to manufacture some offense to use it as an excuse not to join up or whatever other butthurt I could milk out of it.

Yup, the US Military is not a good place to be for folks who want to be in control. In effect. by joining they give up many of their civilian rights. A person can get in potential disciplinary action trouble, even for getting a Sunburn or committing adultery.

Saying a three letter word, is going to be the least amount of real contingent life changing worry they are likely going to have for giving up their regular civilian rights by entering in the US military. It's fairly good steady pay, and a possible retirement, as well as protecting freedoms and all of that, but yes, the drawbacks do exist and are far beyond a three letter word named GOD in an oath.

I worked with the military for over two decades, and there is no way I would ever want my civilian freedoms taken away like that; particularly considering the inconsistent nature of our last few wars, associated with protecting real US freedom.

But again, it's a usually steady job, when other job opportunities dry up, and usually folks get in for that reason, or ideological family loyalty in belief of protecting our country.

Yes, I'm glad someone does it, as long as it is not me. I value freedom the most, and if I am going to protect it, I'll do it freelance, not under the dominance of someone's control

meh just words. noticed you decided to ignore that atheist say "oh my god" are they fake atheist? or is saying god just a part of common phrasing?

i don't get why atheist feel everyone should change for them, yet would not do it if it was reversed. you won't allow christian teaching in schools but think the world should change every common us phrases for hundreds of years for you.
often claiming atheists are in the minority in the us.

saying so help me allah wouldn't harm me one bit, it doesn't mean I have converted to islam I say a bunch of other stuff too. like f**k me, where I don't really mean for you to f**k me, just so you know. its just a phrase.



the last part was a list made by the us army then distributed and given to in briefings to ncos. it labels christian organizations as emestic terror groups, cause they were against gay marriage. which would seem to be protected on freedom of religion.

yep so when they aren't allowed to actively talk about it, post about it, be part of groups, or have their churches closed while others stay open , they all just made it up. sure. in that case there's no discrimination against atheist its all made up too. I'll go tell them.

Christians talk about how they feel hated. " they just wrong and crazy"
ahteist talk about how they feel hated "kill the Christians"
blacks talk about how a guy was racist " lets get that white cracker"
whites talk about how people are racist " lies only whites are racists"

funny how in rl stuff can go both ways.