This is the second post in a series of interviews with secular students and leaders in the U.S. military, inspired by comments on this post. Different Academy students correctly pointed out that each branch of the military has a different culture and levels of religiosity, yet you will see here that all are fairly religious. Non-theistic student groups in the military do not have the same ease-of-formation or resources as found on civilian campuses. So, to get a handle on what secular students are experiencing in the military, I spoke with members of non-theistic groups at each academy.

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I corresponded with cadets at West Point (The United States Military Academy), involved in their Secular Student Alliance (SSA). They are, like the secular group at the Naval Academy, unofficial. They too, have encountered obstacles in group formation. The following is an interview with a member of the executive board:

Tell me about your group.

We’re affiliated with the SSA.  We were established in the Fall semester of 2011.  Last year we were fairly active, with about 4-5 members showing up to each meeting.  We made one attempt at starting a reading list, but there wasn’t much interest (largely because not many cadets have the time to read a book a week).  Other than that, we’ve had one public service trip, where three cadets spent a day at a food shelter.  Each attempt to get another trip approved was shot down by USMA leadership. 

We did have a lecture by Dave Silverman and Jason Torpy, which had great turnout (probably 30 or so people).  A lot of the attendees were religious cadets who wanted to see “the other side” and ask questions.  This year we’ve had much higher attendance at weekly meetings, but haven’t had any large events.  We made requests for trips to Rock Beyond Belief and the Reason Rally, but weren’t able to do either.

Are you recognized by the Academy? If so, how was that process? If not, why, and what has been your experience?

We aren’t.  Our first attempts at official recognition were shot down outright.  The former director of cadet activities did not want to support any secular organization, and didn’t see the point of our existence.  Our last club president described him as “blasé and a stalwart in his opposition to us forming.”  This semester, we developed a formal request for recognition memorandum and sent it to the office of the Commandant.  This memo outlined several of the ongoing instances of intolerance at the Academy, and the importance of being recognized.  Afterwards we were directed to speak with the new director of cadet activities, who has been very helpful.  Although he appears uncomfortable with us forming, he is a professional, and is not allowing his personal beliefs to get in the way of his duty.  He has given us reason to believe that we will be recognized sometime in the near future.  Currently, the Academy’s club program is being revised.  After the revision process is completed this summer, we will know if our efforts were successful.

Are you able to post advertisements, host events, and travel with the same freedom as other groups of your size?

No.  We aren’t allowed access to the same resources as other clubs.  We have been denied many requests for trip sections, and are not able to take part in Club Night, where recognized clubs are able to recruit members by tabling.  We have been denied use of the mess hall slides as a means to advertise for the SSA in the past.  After some of our leadership met with the deputy Commandant, we were assured that we would be allowed to use the mess hall slides to advertise if we ever have another event to publish, but without resources or authorization to host large events, it’s not particularly useful.

What’s been the best and worst experiences you’ve had as a secular group at the Academy?

The best have been our weekly meetings and summer program.  Those of us who have taken part in weekly meetings have had great times bonding with one another, sharing ideas, watching movies and videos, and just generally being a group.  Our introduction of NTCT [Non-Theist Chaplains Time -- see next question] last year provided cadets who would otherwise be required to choose between church and humiliating work details, with the opportunity to enjoy the same environment of camaraderie and relaxation as their theist peers.  As far as I know, this is the first place that this has happened in the military.

The worst experiences we’ve had have been repeated denial of equal opportunities for travel and activity as other clubs.  We have been denied the ability to take trips, and even had a policy written as a response to our desire to advertise, which effectively made it possible for us to be formally shut out from access to the mess hall slides.  Most of our members have experienced some form of direct discrimination.  The most common was harassment during Cadet Basic Training, although there have been other instances in the classroom, and in professional situations.

You mentioned NTCT, Non-Theist Chaplains Time. What is that?

Until last year, there was no alternative to religious services during Basic Training. [Kate says: Religious services provide some kind of snacks and dessert. This is the only time during basic training for sweets or snack food, and open to only those who attend have attended the services.] In regular [non-West Point] basic, I’ve never heard of any alternative, and we had some trouble getting one set up here. There was a decent amount of resistance from the chaplain’s office, but eventually they let us have it, as long as we had a chaplain’s assistant sit in on all of our meetings. They sent a VERY Christian staff sergeant, in uniform, to oversee and make sure that the religious voice was present, and we weren’t encouraging the new cadets to be atheists. Overall it was a good program, and this summer we’re trying to make it a permanent part of cadet basic. We have one chaplain that fully supports us, but one isn’t enough in a complex bureaucracy.

What are the West Point SSA’s goals?

Our goals are to be able to provide non-theist cadets of all sorts with a community of acceptance, while ensuring that the culture of the academy at large shifts away from its current state of religious exceptionalism.

So why have students joined West Point SSA? [This question was open to all members of the SSA]

“I feel like I’m constantly surrounded by fundamentalists. I know this isn’t necessarily true, but that’s the feeling I get. I work to censor myself most of the time because I know being too vocal could be a detriment, even if it is minor.”

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“I want to see it grow so that nontheists have a larger voice and so that they don’t feel like they can’t associate themselves with such an organization for fear of reprisal”

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“To show a stereotypically conservative culture that atheists don’t have horns and dance around a flaming pentagram under the full moon. Also because I enjoy hearing different viewpoints and learning about why people think the way they do.”

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More about religion at West Point can be found in this research by cadet Blake Page.

The interview with Naval Academy Atheists and Freethinkers is available here.

NOTE: A number of cadets contributed to this post, on condition of anonymity. They are not speaking in their official capacity. Statements are not intended to reflect official policy.

This is the first post in a series of interviews with secular students and leaders in the U.S. military, inspired by comments on this post. Different Academy students correctly pointed out that each branch of the military has a different culture and levels of religiosity, yet you will see here that all are fairly religious. Non-theistic student groups in the military do not have the same ease-of-formation or resources as found on civilian campuses. So, to get a handle on what secular students are experiencing in the military, I spoke with members of non-theistic groups at each academy.

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The Naval Academy Freethinkers and Atheists (NAFA) formed two years ago, partially after then-midshipman Cameron Thornberry noticed the Noon Meal Prayer, a practice the Anti-Defamation League and the American Civil Liberties Union have both protested.

From one student (emphasis mine):

The chaplain is different everyday but normally four Christian speakers and a Rabbi present throughout the week. Some use it as a moral ethical lesson for all (notably recently-retired Rabbi Phillips who was NAFA’s Officer Representative) and really don’t mention a specific deity while others will sing a prayer or say [one deity] specifically. Occasionally professors speak out against it.

While the Noon Meal Prayer still stands at the United States Naval Academy (though the Military and Air Force academies have both abandoned the practice), these and similar impositions of religion in official activities sparked Thornberry’s interest in groups for non-theists in the military academies and lead to the establishment of NAFA. Thornberry served as its first President.

I spoke with both the 2011-2012 executive board as well as leaders for the 2012-2013 school year:

Tell me about your group.

Our group is an open and welcome community for nontheists that focuses on science, philosophy, religious education and tolerance, and pertinent constitutional issues, while providing an open venue to fellow nontheists to express their opinions, beliefs, views, etc. We also enjoy each other’s company and love low key meetings as well – where we relax, eat pizza, and watch relevant movies/video clips. We currently have a member list of approximately 110 midshipmen but approximately 40 active and passionate members.

We came into being last spring, where I actually discovered comparable groups such as the USAFA Freethinkers and West Point SSA that were staunchly supported by Jason Torpy and MAAF. I knew then (February 2011) that Navy needed a nontheist group as well, and by the end of the semester I had coordinated an initial interest meeting and readied our group for the upcoming school year. During the summer, NAFA coordinated a plebe summer program with the local Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis (UUCA), thanks to the hard work and support of Rabbi Phillips at USNA and Cliff Andrews at UUCA. Cliff and two other UU’s led Sunday morning meetings for all interested nontheist plebes and we saw an average attendance of about 10-15 plebes every Sunday.  These meetings were a place to relax, affirm nontheist identity (a bit intimidating when starting at a military academy), and discuss science, philosophy, etc., similar to NAFA’s school year meetings.

During the start of this past school year in the fall, we received lots of help through the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (MAAF), the UUCA, and affiliated ourselves with Center For Inquiry and the Secular Student Alliance. The resources and support provided by these organizations truly helped launch NAFA into the academic year as an organized group. Since we weren’t officially recognized this past year (I’ll explain in the next question) we weren’t allowed higher profile speakers (e.g. Roy Speckhardt), but we did bring in local speakers like Brian Engler (CFI) and various Academy faculty such as Rabbi Phillips to discuss the Jewish faith or CAPT (retired) Talbot Manvel to discuss Ayn Rand’s Objectivism. We also went to several local CFI events in D.C. (e.g. a Q&A with Richard Dawkins) and, of course, the Reason Rally.

Are you recognized by the Academy? If so, how was that process? If not, why, and what has been your experience?

Not yet. We put in the paperwork in April and expect to hear back in the coming academic year, though the paperwork process is slow for all groups, regardless of whether people like our group or not. This past year and summer we operated under the auspices of the Jewish Midshipman Club (JMC) led by Rabbi Phillips. One quick word on the Rabbi — he was truly instrumental in supporting our organization and was entirely in favor of our rights as a “religious ECA” [extracurricular activity] and our right to assemble.  Although our group has not been “official” for this past year — it was due to the fact that all prospective ECA’s must submit paperwork for official review every year in April — no other opportunities are afforded, our group included. Our group will find out our status when the Brigade returns for school in the fall.

Are you able to post advertisements, host events, and travel with the same freedom as other groups of your size?

We can’t send out Brigade-wide emails because we aren’t officially recognized. As for advertisements, we haven’t had much to advertise as of late, though I think we could. We can host events, but just have to go through the same bureaucracy as everyone else on that. Finally, once we are recognized we should be able to travel as freely as everyone else. It’s just part of being at USNA.

What have been the best and worst experiences you’ve had as a secular group at the Academy?

The best experience was probably the Dawkins Q&A. It was an awesome experience to meet the people whose books you read, videos you watch on YouTube, and articles you see in the paper. It also should help provide us with great connections for events in the future.

Worst experience: Having Roy Speckhardt get denied to speak because we were not an officially recognized ECA. This is on track to change for the next academic year.

What are your goals?

Our goals are simple, really. NAFA seeks to provide and maintain an open community of nontheists that discusses relevant religious, philosophical, and constitutional topics.

We also seek to foster greater awareness of the nontheist community and visibly demonstrate that our nation’s military leaders can be good without god by committing to community service and attending outside events in the greater Annapolis-Baltimore-DC area.

So why have students joined NAFA? [This question was open to all members of NAFA]

“It’s important to continue to seek answers and share questions, and NAFA provides a forum for that discussion.”

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“What do I get out of the group? A great feeling knowing that some of our leaders had the balls to make a group like this even though we’re a minority.”

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“A disturbingly large number of people believe something I do not and I feel unwelcome whenever my views are found out.”

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“The ability to laugh about those jokes that wouldn’t be kosher to many of our former monotheisms. And occasionally pizza.”

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“The members of NAFA are the very few people who can understand what it is like to take that first leap of unfaith in the midst of our lives here at USNA.”

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“It really makes me sad when people are intimidated to be out when we are all supposed to be morally sound leaders regardless of creed… I have also heard of a known atheist who was told “If I put a gun to your head right now I bet you wouldn’t say you were atheist.” Which is truly disturbing. But as a generalization the staff and faculty here are very accepting but the students are more hesitant.”

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“I have found a group of midshipmen who take what the world presents them and make decisions based on the evidence at hand. I have found a place where intelligence trumps stalwart idealism. NAFA gives me hope for a time when our nation’s leaders will recognize the foolishness of taking advice from scripture written for a different time and a different place.”

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Further interviews with secular students at the Naval Academy can be found on the MAAF website.

NOTE: Approximately ten midshipmen contributed to the production of this article, answering questions and proofreading, all the while getting ready for the end of their year, and in some cases, graduation. Further thanks are extended to Jason Torpy, MAAF President, for his assistance. These students commented on the condition of anonymity. They are not speaking in their official capacity. Statements are not intended to reflect official policy.