No Atheists in foxholes?
July 3rd, 2007
Sen. DeMint plays politics with religion and military
By Will Moredock
Human beings have been making war as they pray to their gods since the dawn of time. The two activities seem to reinforce one another and draw on our species’ most primitive instincts.
I associate war prayers with primitive, tribal cultures and manipulative leaders. Osama bin Laden comes to mind. So does Sen. Jim DeMint.
South Carolina’s junior senator recently proposed that June 6 be recognized as a National Day of Prayer for America’s military personnel. The idea of praying for our troops while we fail to give them funding for armored combat vehicles, medical care and veteran’s benefits sounds like something this pietistic and supercilious administration would do.
Creating such a Day of Prayer would perpetuate the myth that all people who risk their lives in service to our nation share DeMint’s religious beliefs.
His proposal that a prayer with references to God and Lord be read aloud in Congress every June 6 falsely assumes that all military personnel and their families believe in some god.
The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers
According to a 2004 report in Population Bulletin, 20 percent of U.S. military personnel identify themselves as atheist of nonreligious – about twice the rate as the general population. And they have done it in a culture of religiosity, hypocrisy and pious bombast. DeMint’s resolution ignores the 280,000 soldiers, sailors, flyers and marines who declare themselves nonreligious. But I suspect the senator’s resolution is more about politics than about providing comfort and support to our men and women in uniform.
The most famous atheist in the military in recent years was Pat Tillman. After watching the carnage of 9/11 this patriot walked away from a multimillion-dollar professional football career to put on the uniform of an army Ranger. He was killed in Afghanistan in April 2004 and posthumously awarded a Silver Star for valor.
In the immediate aftermath of his death, there was much preaching and public lament over Tillman’s heroic death. It took months of digging by his family before the truth came out – that Tillman was killed by friendly fire and the posthumous medal was part of the cover up. Then something even more shocking was revealed – that Tillman (with the other members of his family) was a nonbeliever. His brother objected to the presence of chaplains and prayers during a repatriation ceremony in Germany before Tillman’s body was returned to the United States.
As Tillman’s family pressed harder for answers about Pat’s death, the Army struck back, explaining the family’s anger as a result of their atheism. In an interview last year with espn.com, military spokesman Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich said this: “When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don’t believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing, and now he is no more – that is pretty hard to get your head around that. So I don’t know how an atheist thinks. I can only imagine that that would be pretty tough.”
Thank you, colonel. What a sensitive, Christian expression of condolences. It apparently never occurred to Kauzlarich that the family’s anger might be the result of the battlefield bungling that killed Pat and the bureaucratic cover up that kept them from learning the truth.
In media coverage of Tillman’s memorial service, Sen. John McCain and celebrity journalist Maria Shriver were quoted extensively. But the remarks of Tillman’s younger brother, Richard, went largely unreported: “Just make no mistake, he’d want me to say this,” Richard Tillman said. “He’s not with God. He’s fcking dead. He’s not religious. So, thanks for your thoughts, but he’s fcking dead.”
The broadcast media probably justified their decision not to carry the brother’s words due to the strong language. Yet they have been bleeping expletives from tape for years – just not expletives about religion.
And the cover up goes on. Much of the material in this column was written to the Post and Courier as a letter to the editor by Charleston’s favorite atheist, Herb Silverman. Needless to say, it was not published.
I called editor Barbara Williams for an explanation, but got not response. Apparently, there are some things the public is better off not knowing.
Read more by Will Moredock in The Good Fight
July 3rd, 2007 at 05:42 PM
Well put, Will. Senator DeMint and those of his ilk are trying to wrap our flag around their religion. They want their form of Christianity to be nationally embraced and want any type of dissent from that idea quashed. They do it by making things up like ours a Christian nation, founded by Christian men and that (the Christian) God wants the U.S. to “return” to him. DeMint should read the Constitution again. He should keep his politics separate from his religion.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:36 PM
People are asking why atheists have started to defend themselves so strongly with books like The God Delusion, The End of Faith and God is Not Great. For starters, an increasing number of laws respecting the establishment of theism have been enacted and religious fanatics will not leave atheists in peace.
Doctors are being vetoed by President Bush’s personal superstitions. Billions of tax dollars are being funneled to religious organizations through the executive branch. Every weekend there is some new religious zealot at my doorstep to test out the latest fad of logical fallacies that weak minded people too often fall for. And there are people who wonder why atheists are getting frustrated?
Atheists in today’s armed forces have something in common with African-Americans who fought in Vietnam. They have fought for a country that hates them. The big difference of course is that atheists can choose to hide who they are, but many of us are being drawn out of our closets by people like Sen. DeMint, Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, President Bush, and the weekly proselytizers who happily tell our children they are going to hell.
July 4th, 2007 at 09:53 AM
It amases me that the more technologically advanced we get, the more religious our country becomes. It is important to note that our founding fathers were not religious, but deists. Thomas jefferson believed that we should be free FROM religion. Maybe things will get better when that bible banging hypocrite is out of the white house.
July 4th, 2007 at 10:59 AM
MAAF appreciates the mention. Just an ironic note - the MAAF President was born on June 6th and was none-too-happy about the idea of a military prayer day on his birthday…
July 4th, 2007 at 02:08 PM
War vet and member of the MAAF here. I totally agree with your take on the whole Tillman situation (I wear a KIA bracelet with his name to this day). The way the army handled that situation is one of the reasons I will not re-up when my current enlistment ends.
I should also mention that I don’t know many atheists in the army. Most service members are non-practicing Christians or they just don’t give a shit.
And what is with our chaplains these days? There is one decent chaplain in my entire brigade. Why aren’t there any humanist chaplains? I am sure there are many many service members who would be more comfortable with professional counseling of a non-religious nature.
July 6th, 2007 at 09:37 AM
During the Civil War, hundreds of thousands of freethinkers (including Unitarians, Transcendalists, immigrant German Freidenker and atheists) fought for the Union. Robert Ingersoll (The Great Agnostic) was a colonel in the Union cavalry and served with distinction. Some regiments in the western theatre consisted mainly of freethinkers. Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant and William T. Sherman were unchurched. Lincoln was known as “godless Abe”.
The Confederate army, on the other hand, was without doubt one of the most devoutly Christian armies in world history. Religious revivals of great magnitude were common in the southern ranks. President Jefferson Davis, R. E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were all devout Christians and defended slavery as ordained by God.
Which army (Union or Confederate) do you think best represented the values of freedom and democracy? The fact is, without the contributions of non-religious patriots serving in the Union ranks, the USA would must likely have been broken up in the aftermath of a southern victory, and slavery would have endured into the 20th Century!
July 6th, 2007 at 11:13 AM
Now let me see. We have to remind “God” to do the right thing? In other words, if we didn’t bring it to “His” attention it would never occur to him to watch over our troops? Do I understand correctly that if we fail to sufficiently grovel to the purported ultimate source of LOVE that he will throw a hissy fit and allow those who are risking and giving their lives for us (and presumably, for him) to die or be maimed and crippled? If people REFUSE to pray for the starving children in Darfur (or pray to Satan just for kicks) and instead triple the money and food deliveries will “God” let them die?
July 7th, 2007 at 07:34 AM
XaurreauX:
God and his existence isn’t something that can be fully comprehended by the human mind. Although, it’s a fun and challenging intellectual exercise to do just that.
However there is evidence of the awesome power of prayer. And if you try it, you may well notice God a bit more.
July 8th, 2007 at 03:42 AM
Lt. Col. Kauzlarich at least did us the favor of reinforcing the stark connection between faith and war: (Christian) believers don’t mind as much dying for some seemingly-noble cause because they’ll end up with a better life instead of as worm-dirt. So it’s the same basic logic reportedly used by their enemies who blow themselves up in expectation of the heaven’s riches/virgins. With such similarities in beliefs, one wonders why following one religion would apparently motivate suicide bombing more than the other. Is it that Muslim’s view their heaven as more glorious than Christian’s view theirs, or do Muslims just have more faith in their teachings than Christians do in theirs? Given the value put on glory and faith by both religions, either case must put the Christians in awe of the Muslims.
But maybe we should interpret the colonel’s words as saying that atheist soldiers are worthy of a special respect, in that they make their decisions (such as whether to fight) based on cold hard reality instead of heavenly beliefs. If so, maybe the Christians are also in awe of the atheists?