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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNo atheist should be permitted to serve in the U.S. military
From Right Wing Watch
Bryan Fischer Calls For Atheists To Be Banned From Serving In The Armed Forces
One of the very first posts we ever wrote about the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer highlighted a column he wrote calling for Muslims to be banned from serving in the military. That was nearly five years ago and now Fischer is finally getting around to calling for atheists to be banned from serving in the U.S. armed forces as well.
Responding to a situation in which an airman was denied his request to re-enlist in the Air Force because he refuses to take an oath containing the phrase "so help me God," Fischer asserts that atheists should be prohibited from serving in all braches of the military because "there is no place in the United States military for those who do not believe in the Creator who is the source of every single one of our fundamental human and civil rights":
These rights do not come from government, they do not come from the commander-in-chief, and they most certainly do not come from some activist judge. They come from God himself. We are not evolved, as this wannabe-enlistee believes, but we are "created," and "endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable rights."
This is an absolutely foundational, non-negotiable, bed-rock American principle: there is a Creator - with a capital "C" (you could look it up) - and he and he alone is the source of the very rights the military exists to protect and defend.
An individual who does not understand and believe this has no right to serve in the U.S. military. Military service should rightly be reserved for those who believe in and are willing to die for what America stands for - and what America stands for is a belief in God as the source of our rights.
A man who doesn't believe in the Creator the Founders trusted certainly can live in America without being troubled for being a fool. But he most certainly should not wear the uniform.
The other branches of the military do not require the same oath - yet. But they should. Military service should be reserved for genuine Americans and genuine Americans, like the Founders, believe in God.
In the original column he informs us that
(a) Enlistment Oath.Each person enlisting in an armed force shall take the following oath:
I, XXXXXXXXXX, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
Serving in the military is a privilege, not a constitutional right. And it should be reserved for those who have America's values engraved on their hearts.
Naturally, the American Humanist Association, which has never seen a constitutional liberty it respects, intends to challenge this decision.
This case should be thrown out of court. The Constitution nowhere gives the federal judiciary any authority to set military policy. That's reserved for Congress and Congress alone.
(The "religious test" referred to in Article VI of the Constitution is a reference to a detailed or specific Christian statement of faith, and refers to elective or appointive office and not to military service. States, under the Constitution written by the Founders, can require any kind of religious test they want, and Article VI was designed to protect that power and reserve it for the States.)
I guess this means that my honorable discharge should be replaced with a dishonorable one and all records of my service scrubbed.
MineralMan
(146,286 posts)When I took the oath upon enlisting in the USAF in 1965, we were informed, before repeating the oath, that we could substitute the word "affirm" in the oath and omit the "so help me God" clause.
The AFA is a collective moron.
SomethingFishy
(4,876 posts)an "Athiest" who is willing to get shot at for his country, then he can open his pie hole. The guy has never served as far as I can see, so his opinion means nothing.
LisaLynne
(14,554 posts)no_hypocrisy
(46,081 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Some seem to believe that our very existence is a crime of moral turpitude.
sarcasmo
(23,968 posts)In the 80's on my dog tags next religion the word was none.
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)I wonder what he thinks about non- Christians serving in the Military - very dominionist talk.
Bryant
Chan790
(20,176 posts)I'm pretty sure that Fischer's American dream is Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Not only were Catholics and Non-Christians not allowed to serve...they were rounded-up, executed and their remains left hanging on a wall.
bluesbassman
(19,370 posts)If the Constitution's rights are "God given", then defending the Constitution should be the obligation of ever Christian young adult in America so lets make active duty compulsory for all of them. This way there will be no need for Atheists, Muslims, Hindus, and every other non-Christian American to enlist. I'm sure all of the Christian parents and young people will jump all over this idea.
Some people should just leave their pie holes to pie.
JHB
(37,158 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)jmowreader
(50,555 posts)A True Christian must always live according to the tenets of his faith. If an order given by a superior officer conflicts with the tenets of his faith (like, say, being ordered to work on the Sabbath) he must disobey that order. Moreover, Christians are required to kill anyone they see who isn't a Christian, including people in their own units - think Major Hasan with a cross around his neck. Since the risk that a True Christian will commit fratricide or war crimes, or undermine unit cohesion by hewing too closely to his faith, is too great, all Christians must immediately be discharged with no benefits or severance pay.
Which is as ludicrous a suggestion as Bryan "never served a day in his life so obviously he knows more about the needs of the military than us silly veterans" Fischer's "throw out all the nonbelievers" stance.
Oktober
(1,488 posts)I don't think he would be quite so smug.
IDemo
(16,926 posts)Perhaps that's where his confusion about government came from.