Atheist chaplains would call fallen ‘worm food,’ says Republican congressman [View all]

[brooklynite]

NY Daily News

No atheists in foxholes — or in the military chaplain corps.

...snip...

“They don’t believe in anything,” Rep. Mike Conaway, a Republican, insisted at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “I can't imagine an atheist accompanying a notification team as they go into some family's home to let them have the worst news of their life and this guy says, 'You know, that's it — your son's just worms, I mean, worm food.'"

...snip...

"This I think would make a mockery of the chaplaincy," said Rep. John Fleming (R-La.). "The last thing in the world we would want to see was a young soldier who may be dying and they're at a field hospital and the chaplain is standing over that person saying to them, 'If you die here, there is no hope for you in the future’.”

I don't suppose it would make sense to send someone who relates to what the parents believe, rather than what a Congressman believes, would it?