I don’t comment here very often, but your statement made me sick.
My brother is currently in the Air Force and spent many years in the Army 82nd Airborne. He has served 2 tours in the Middle East and now guards a location here in Texas.
You don’t believe he is an American patriot because he doesn’t believe the same things you believe? My brother believes he is fighting to protect liberty and freedom, a freedom which includes the right to believe what you want.
He took his history classes and learned the foundation of our discovery. He acknowledges it and appreciates it. He just has a different belief system.
Nonetheless, he’d die to protect you. You who just said he is not an American patriot. Wow.
Actually, what I believe has nothing to do with it. The Declaration of Independence was a declaration of our national character. It asserts that this nation's legitimacy, indeed right to exist is rooted in the "laws of nature, and Nature's God," and that our Creator has endowed us with certain unalienable rights.
If one does not subscribe to those beliefs, by definition, one's beliefs about this nation's very raison d'être are at variance with those of the signatories of that document and the founders of this nation.
That does nothing to take away from your brother's service, nor any other self-proclaimed atheist that has honorably served this country. I'm sure he has his reasons for doing so. Perhaps it's to defend the nation that has allowed him and others of his persuasion to be true to their beliefs and prosper. Perhaps it's that and a combination of other things. I didn't say an atheist couldn't love the USA, only that the founding principles were inconsistent with their beliefs. I can love, appreciate and even defend organizations with whom my beliefs are at variance. That doesn't make me a member of that organization.
To believe that rights are bestowed by a power greater than man or government presupposes the belief that such a power exists. To deny the existence of such a power leads one to the conclusion that either:
a. No such unalienable rights really exist.
or
b. What rights do exist are extended to us by other men or governments.
This nation was founded on principles that are completely antithetical to either of those conclusions.
Islam and secularism cannot co-exist.
As Islam is a comprehensive system of worship (Ibadah) and legislation (Shari’ah), the acceptance of secularism means abandonment of Shari’ah, a denial of the divine guidance and a rejection of Allah’s injunctions. It is indeed a false claim that Shari’ah is not proper to the requirements of the present age. The acceptance of a legislation formulated by humans means a preference of the humans’ limited knowledge and experiences to the divine guidance: “Say! Do you know better than Allah?” (Qur’an, 2:140) For this reason, the call for secularism among Muslims is atheism and a rejection of Islam. Its acceptance as a basis for rule in place of Shari’ah is downright apostasy.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/244545/inventing-moderate-islam-andrew-c-mccarthy