Atheists-In-Foxholes

[villagechild]

The monument reads: "In memory of ATHEISTS IN FOXHOLES and the countless FREETHINKERS who have served this country with honor and distinction. Presented by the national FREEDOM FROM RELIGION FOUNDATION with hope that in the future humankind may learn to avoid all war." http://www.ffrf.org/foxholes/

[slutticus]

1. This is great.

Thanks for this.

I posted this in the Atheists and Agnostics Forum

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=263x397

[YankeyMCC]

2. Great indeed

I was thinking of that saying "no atheiests in foxholes" just last night while watching "Into the void" on PBS. It is about a couple of climbers who had an accident coming down from a particularly difficult mountain in the Andes.

Anyway, one of the men fell into a deep crevasse. He spoke about the fact he had been raised a devot catholic but had since become an atheist, that may not have been the word he used but he said something to the effect that he did not believe in god. He said that through all this ordeal where he was convinced he was going to die he didn't once think about praying for deliverence. He said he believed if he had done that it probably would've ended up with his death as he sat there hoping for something to happen that he knew would never happen. Instead his atheism basically saved his life because instead of hoping for "god" to save him he knew he had to take action himself.

[villagechild]

3. Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers

Internet-based grassroots organization that exists to provide a forum for service members ... like-minded individuals. Where necessary, MAAF tries to identify, examine, and respond to insensitive practices that illegally promote religion over non-religion within the military or unethically discriminate against minority religions or differing beliefs. MAAF supports Constitutional Separation of Church and State and 1st Amendment rights for all service members. We also coordinate with other national organizations who hold the same values. http://www.maaf.info/index.html

[KnowerOfLogic]

4. I was robbed at gunpoint once, and Jeezus never crossed my mind,

either during the robbery or after. That "no atheists..." line just proves that religious belief is largely fear-based.

[Bigmack]

5. I WAS an atheist in a foxhole...

.. there were lots of us. I dunno where all the bullshit religious services in Iraq is coming from. It may be different now.

[malmapus]

7. My dogtags said "No Rel Pref" as well

There were a few of us when I was in, although I kinda did have a "battlefield converstion".

But yeah, Drills really got on us. I remember a cold rainy day one of the other platoon drills had everyone in the company pull out their dogtags and if it didn't say some form of relgion you got smoked, and yelled at about who were you going to pray to when they bullets started flying.

[Ernesto]

11. "No Preference" on my USMC dog tags

What a shit storm that statement created for me. Imagine being openly ridiculed in front your peers by a commissioned officer in a country that supposedly stands for religious freedom.
And these assholes tried to get me to re-enlist!

[Caution]

12. "I'm not praying to anyone sir. I'm going to duck"

[villagechild]

8. religious services in Iraq

Long read, but so worth it. well researched. I served peace-time
80-86 USAF.


Infiltrating the U.S. Military
Gen. Boykin’s “Kingdom Warriors” On the Road to Abu Ghraib and Beyond
By Katherine Yurica

First the hard right dominionists took over the Southern Baptist Convention with its 16 million members and a fortune in corporate businesses. Then they took over the Republican Party. Now there is evidence dominionists are trying to take over the U. S. military. The article examines several new questions: Is there a direct connection between the Southern Baptist Convention and Pentecostal churches like John Ashcroft's Assemblies of God to General Boykin, Stephen Cambone and Donald Rumsfeld? Is it true that U.S. taxpayers are paying the seminary bills to educate chaplains who are planning to supplant the U.S. government? Was a chaplain sent to Abu Ghraib to torture prisoners on Rumsfeld's orders? Do not miss this solid article. http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/InfiltratingTheUSMilitaryGenBoykinsWarriors.html

[burrowowl]

6. Having almost went off a very

steep 100'a of meters cliff (when I was young, like 19). What went through my mine was God Damn you (meaning me) stupid idiot, hope we land in that BIG tree before going any farther down the cliff.
God or physics saved me, the gravel sent me onto the road instead of down the cliff and I vowed to be very careful around gravel and centrifugal force ....
Maybe Goddess hears our prayers, even the DAMN ones, maybe not?

[Cat Atomic]

9. Ha- I had a similar experience rock climbing in my early 20's.

No ropes, and got stuck on a tiny ledge with a few hundred feet below me. I didn't see any way out of the spot and my legs started shaking the way they do when your body is terrified but your brain hasn't quite caught up to it.

I was absolutely convinced that I was about to die. I didn't have any thoughts of god, myself- but I doubt that it had anything to do with my beliefs on the subject (atheist). I was just too scared to think of anything but "I don't want to end here".

It's weird what your mind an body do in situations like that.

[Dr.Phool]

10. I just made a post on these lines

Right after this one. An article by Paul Kurtz from Free inquiry magazine. Is america a post-democracy country?

[mainer]

13. Atheist soldiers are the TRUE heroes

Because they understand they only have one life to live. They understand there's no heaven waiting for them, no angels strumming harps, no eternal afterlife. They know this is the one life they have, and yet they're still willing to risk that precious one life for their country.

If you think you've got heaven waiting, or 76 virgins, or whatever, what's the big deal with dying?

[UdoKier]

14. Nice! I would pray in a foxhole, though.

When you may be facing death, there is no harm in prying to whoever may be listening.

But I don't pray or go to church on a regular basis, because there is harm - a waste of my precious time.

People seem to think that being an atheist means denying the existence of God. No sensible atheist would tell you definitively that there is no God. It cannot be disproved any more than it can be proved.

But any God who gave us this set of circumstances and lack of reasons to believe in him that we are faced with, would be a truly merciless and cruel one if he didn't forgive us for not believing in him when there is absolutely no logical reason to do so.