Defending The Religious Rights of Foxhole Atheists.
An interesting thing happened at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in July (2013), to little fanfare and even less media coverage; the VA approved the addition of the "Hammer of Thor" to their list of symbols allowed to be placed on the tombstones at the grave sites of veterans who are buried in veteran cemeteries. The newly approved symbol is intended for the practitioners of a form of paganism that worships the Norse pantheon, including Thor, and looks like … [Read more...]
Recently, I learned that Naval Academy's beautiful chapel has one major flaw - if you aren't Christian and want to use the facility for your wedding, that's just too bad, because unless you are a Christian, this government owned and operated facility isn't for you. See here for details: Naval Academy Refuses Use of Chapel for Non-Christian Wedding There are plenty of atheists, humanists, and others of a secular bent who want to enjoy the formal trappings of a formal wedding without the … [Read more...]
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion... A few days ago, the House of Representatives of the United States set aside work on real problems so that they could pass a ban, sponsored by Rep. John Fleming, to prohibit the armed forces from appointing atheists or secular humanists to the chaplaincy. Rep. Fleming had this to say: "The notion of an atheist chaplain is nonsensical; it's an oxymoron. It is absurd to argue that someone with no spiritual inclination should … [Read more...]
Atheism in the Marines As a Marine who is also an atheist this matter is very concerning to me. After publishing about the Marines classifying atheism as a "risky behavior" a Marine from H&S Battalion in Quantico reached out to me with this: I saw your blog entry about H&S Battalion in Quantico. That specific unit has the most fundamentalist leadership, but I specifically blame the influence of this crusty old Roman Catholic Priest that was the chaplain there (I dunno if he still is, … [Read more...]
Fox News columnist Todd Starnes is at it again. Determined to see an anti-Christian bias in the military where none exists, he published this in a post from July 8th, 2013: There is a clear and present danger to religious liberty within the military, says a coalition of groups who believe the Obama Administration is pushing a secular, anti-religious culture on the nation's armed forces."Christians who choose to live out their faith find themselves incompatible with the secular view of … [Read more...]
The day started off with rain, not unlike The Reason Rally, but that did not stop American Atheists from unveiling the first monument at Bradford County Courthouse square in Starke, FL from being erected on government property. The Good News David Silverman, President of American Atheists, officiated the dedication ceremony. Over 250 atheists were reported to be in attendance. The Stupid News Protesters at the event were apparently unaware of what year it was. They were stuck … [Read more...]
Yes even the chaplains... I received one of my frequent emails from Mikey Weinstein over at MRFF. MRFF has been demonized constantly by the religious right in the last few weeks as being a hate organization and it couldn't be further from the truth. They've been nominated for NUMEROUS Nobel Peace Prizes and just recently were accepted into the CFC's donation drive. The CFC is the Combined Federal Campaign. Every year the command is required to give everyone in the military an opportunity to … [Read more...]
Introductions are necessary My name is Casey Leavings and I am an active duty AIr Force member. I've been in for almost ten years and I have been an out and proud atheist for eight. I have been fortunate enough to have never been forced into the corner for my lack of beliefs. When I heard about the extreme pressures that others in uniform have been put under for holding the same beliefs I adhere to, I felt that I had no choice but to step into the activist movement and the blogosphere. These … [Read more...]
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