Yes indeed!
Posted on 05/01/2011 3:23:08 PM PDT by neverdem
The report in the New York Times that atheists are looking for official recognition as chaplains in the American military in order to cater to the needs of non-believing servicemen is interesting.
On the one hand, it’s kind of absurd. Atheist chaplains? It’s a contradiction in terms. What are they going to teach? Non-belief? What services will they offer? Non-prayers and sermons on evolution? And what comfort will they offer dying soldiers, G-d forbid (oops! Even that doesn’t work). Will they say, “Game over. You’re going to a place of complete oblivion. Thank you for your service.”?
On the other hand, I am completely opposed to any kind of religious coercion, and why should non-believing military personnel not have someone they can talk to who shares their absence of faith? If you’re an atheist and you’ve returned from Iraq or Afghanistan and you’re finding it difficult, say, to reintegrate to life back home, maybe you don’t want to talk to someone whom you think views life only through the prism of faith. In the same way that it might be uncomfortable for a Jewish soldier to talk about his deepest issues with, say, a Catholic Priest, it is arguably just as uncomfortable for an atheist soldier to talk to the same Priest.
Still it would seem that those who profess an absence of belief can’t really be religious or spiritual chaplains. If you’re an atheist then what you see is what you get. There is no other reality – higher or lower – and the word spiritual is nothing but a crude con.
I am well aware that many of my atheist friends will tell me, “Come on Shmuley. OK, so an atheist ‘chaplain’ might not be able to offer the same comfort...
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
If you want it recognized as a religion, with both the privileges - and restrictions (i.e. no federal money for teaching what amounts to religious dogma) accompanying that... I have no problem with it. People are free agents and can believe whatever they wish.
“Atheism is not no religion.”
Grammar aside, I believe a court has said atheism is = to a religion.
Yes indeed!
They call them psychologists.... like the one who slaughtered all those people at Ft. Hood.
For many years there has been a Dial-A-Prayer for atheists. You call it and no one answers.
Well, well. Does this mean that there will now be atheists in foxholes?
Amen!
what privileges?
See my previous post: Tax exemptions on church property which includes everything from the actual churches to houses and resorts in the mountains.
Pingout tomorrow.
You say it is a religion and so CANNOT be supported by the govt., but, what is paying chaplains for our servicemen if not a support by the govt? Thus, nonbelievers should have the same rights for emotional and moral support in war as believers already have. In fact without the comfort of a fully believed in hereafter, it is reasonable to think they might need aid, comfort and counseling even more than believers.
Pat Tillman was an atheists. Some members of his family and others believe that the “friendly fire” that killed him was deliberate murder by angry Christian/s.
As a combat vet, I can 10000000000% guarantee you that when bullets start flying, everyone has religion. How many, "oh God's . . . ." do you think you will hear? You will not hear: "Oh great Nobody, save me!!!" You will remember in the Bible that it teaches that one of the pagan cults had a statute to the: unknown god. That was to cover their rear ends in the event there was a god out there that the did not have a statute to yet and did not want to offend him. Never saw anyone run to that statute in a firefight. It was always: "Oh GOD, help me!" And they were not saying, "Oh Allah help me."
“They said “Nobody knows.”
LOL! You’re too funny!
Don’t they know that they will never meet an atheist in a foxhole?
I’ve always wondered what atheists shout during sex.
> Army Move on Atheist Chaplains Could Lead To ‘Church of Evolution’
At least they’ll be finally making it official.
Now can we get the government to stop supporting it?
Or, better yet, can we give Creator God equal time?
Oh nothing! Oh nothing! Oooooooohhhhhh nnnoooothing!
there are tax exemptions on a lot of charity-related property
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