Solomon: Atheist Chaplain Would Tell Soldiers to Kill Themselves

August 4, 2013 by Ed Brayton

I thought Rex Murphy and a couple Republican congressmen had said the dumbest things one could day in opposition to having humanist chaplains in the military, but I was wrong. Wingnut radio show host Rick Solomon makes them look like amateurs by declaring that they would try to convince soldiers to kill themselves.

httpv://youtu.be/zoymVtThlQs

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matty1

What is he doing in that picture, lifting an invisible rock?
throwaway, feels safe and welcome at FTBConscience!

The only opposition to atheism is to keep us from forming Voltron.
Jackie, Ms. Paper if ya nasty

matty1,

I think he’s doing the “Raise the roof”.
grumpyoldfart

Surprisingly, there have been people who set out to kill themselves because they could see no purpose to their lives. They weren’t atheists, they were Christians (The Circumcellions).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcellions
exdrone

It is telling that the ex-Navy chaplain stated that the only purpose of a chaplain is to perform religious rituals. Not only does this imply that he did not do his job properly when he was in uniform, but he just confirmed why non-believing soldiers need humanist chaplains.
kantalope

or why chaplains should not get any funding from the government…ever.
Randomfactor

“Kill themselves.” “Worm food.” Funny how the only ones saying such things are Christians.

So what wuuld a Christian chaplain say to the grieving family? “Hey, you think THAT’S bad, he’s writhing in eternal torment amidst the never-ending flames right now. See you in church this Sunday? Bring money.”
dan4

You can actually sort of flip the argument and say that Christian chaplains’ belief that Christians go to a paradise called “heaven” when they die encourages soldiers of that faith to take unnecessary battlefield risks (i.e. they aren’t as hesitant to die as they would be if they didn’t believe they were going to heaven after death).
Michael Heath

@ 2:16 Rick Solomon states,

. . . an atheist chaplain, may they rest in pieces . . .

That’s chilling and just plain evil. It’s also not that far off from the typical Christian, e.g., Rick Warren, falsely claiming that atheism is to blame for 20th century mass genocides.

That false narrative popularized by Christians like Warren provides cover (in some fundie minds) that wishing for the devastation of atheists, as Solomon does here, saves lives. What’s ironic is that Solomon’s behavior is in direct violation of biblical new covenant edicts on how Christians are commanded to treat others, including their enemies.
Michael Heath

This is actually the best argument, by far, I’ve encountered from Gordon K. However, it’s still a fatally defective one.

That’s given K.’s disingenuously avoiding the fact that military personnel who seek counseling from psychologists put both their careers at risk along the relationships they enjoy with their associates; all due to the idiotic stigma attached to seeking such counseling. A stigma not attached to those receiving counseling from a chaplain.
Raging Bee

This wanker can’t even do stereotypes right. The stereotypical atheist would tell people to stay alive as long as they possibly can, regardless of the cost, because there is no afterlife, and no God to punish them for flouting their responsibilities to future generations.

Did some socialist poopyhead break into his office and shuffle his note-cards the previous night?